This past June I was invited by Miriade & Partners to attend the Anteprime called A Montefalco and produced by the Consorzio Tutela Vini Montefalco. The Consorzio presented to 2021 vintage of Montefalco Sagrantino DOCG and the vintages currently on the market of Spoletino DOC, Montefalco DOC, and Montefalco Sagrantino DOCG. According to the Consorzio, the 2021 is a 4 star vintage which is considered excellent. Rather than doing a comparative tasting in the press room as I usually do at these types of events, I focused on visiting producers to get a lay of the land with Alessandro Masnaghetti’s map in hand. His map’s and the descriptions that he adds are such a wealth of information that anytime I am given one, I hold onto it for dear life as it is a great reference point.

I had been talking about my attending this event for a few years with my contacts at Miriade and this year it has finally worked out. I had no idea what I had been missing. While i have tasted these wines at Vinitaly through the years, I had not had the opportunity to visit the producers, see the gorgeous countryside, eat in the local restaurants, and hang out with the wide variety of journalists from around the world who attend. I am so happy that our host, Gwendolyn of Wine Predator, for this month’s #ItalianFWT chose to focus on Umbria for this month.

I visited so many producers while there that this is an initial post which will be followed by more specific ones on each of the experiences in and of themselves. I first visited Montefalco for wine 26 years ago when I was a newbie in the Italian wine world. We explored numerous wineries, stayed in the town, and went to Umbria Jazz, the festival for my summer birthday. Fast forward 26 years and a lot has changed in terms of the wines but also the work done by the producers and the numbers of producers who have moved to the area from other parts of Italy, always a sign that the area is up and coming. The Consorzio was created in 1981 but the history of wines here date back to the Middle Ages. In the local wine museum they note how wine were already spoken about here in 1088.

The king of wines in this region is of course Sagrantino, a very bold and full bodied wine in the past. It still reigns supreme but much has been done to make it more accessible earlier, less tannic and more approachable. Sagrantino has always been made in a dry and a sweet version. One of the producers I finally met, Antonelli, has always made one of my favorite Italian sweet wines as I wrote for one of my past articles in the #ItalianFWT lineup.

Sagrantino has always been tied to this area and can be produced from grapes grown in a few municipalities – Montefalco, parts of Bevagna, Castel Ritaldi, Giano dell’Umbria, and Gualdo Cattaneo. Sagrantino got its name from Emperor Federico II’s sacred falcons who were called Falci Sagri. As the story goes, the falcons were afflicted with an illness and one of the Emperors assistants suggested they drink the local wine. As it happens, the wine did the trick and the falcons were cured. From that moment on, in the 1200s. the wine was known as Sagrantino and the town of Montefalco’s name was changed to MonteFalco or mountain of the falcons.

Sagrantino is so important in this area that it is even painted on the table in one of the panels of the glorious church dedicated to Saint Francis and painted by famed Renaissance artist Benozzo Gozzoli.

It’s hard to see but there is a carafe on the table filled with red wine thought to represent Sagrantino. The Consorzio hosted their welcome conversation on the first day of the Anteprime in this setting as well. Italy is so majestic as to be able to host press conferences in locations such as this. I first moved to Italy over 30 years ago because of my love of Art, living in Florence as a young 20 something at the time. I always try to go to the local churches and museums to see what they have to offer and Montefalco fresco cycle by Benozzo Gozzoli did not disappoint.

While I have tasted a lot of Sagrantino in my life, I have only done a few guided tasting of Montefalco Rosso and Montefalco Riserva. These wines which tended to be blends of Sangiovese, Sagrantino, and other reds either Merlot or indigenous grapes were a real surprise. Full bodied and well made, these wines impressed me both for their structure and aroma profiles but also for their easy pairing nature. The Montefalco Rosso DOC is a perfect wine for a by the glass program as well as for bottles that will appeal to many novice wine drinkers as well as more seasoned wine aficionados. It reminded me a bit of Rosso di Montalcino DOC wines which are always crowd pleasers.

Perhaps the most stunning revelation of the trip though were the amazing whites made from Trebbiano Spoletino at times blended with Grechetto in Montefalco Bianco and at times made into wines with 100% of that grape variety into a Spoleto DOC wine. This magical white grape can be made into sparkling wine, still wine, or sweet wine. Indigenous to the area and in the Trebbiano family but distinct from other Trebbianos for its high acidity, great minerality, and in its capacity to make elegant, important wines, Trebbiano Spoletino is spectacular.

What are the soils like in this area one might ask as they can make such a wide variety of wines? Largely mixes of calcareous soils, marls, sand, and clay, with lots of fossils. The vineyards tend to be at between 220 – 472 meters above sea level with various expositions and depth. The climate is largely Mediterranean – Sub-Continental. It was extremely hot when we visited but like everywhere else that was out of the norm and chalked up to climate change.

The event was a wonderful opportunity to taste wines, see these beautiful medieval hilltop towns, and the engage with the experience of being in the Green heart of Italy, one I cherished and am enjoying revisiting through this post. More to follow in the future but for now, I suggest furthering your visit to Umbria by reading the posts of my fellow bloggers in the #ItalianFWT crew.

• A Culinary Visit to Umbria before my Physical Visit to Umbria” by A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Decoding Sagrantino via a Vertical Tasting of Romanelli’s Terra Cupa by Grapevine Adventures
• Discovering Spectacular Wines in the Green Heart of Italy – Montefalco in Umbria by Avvinare
• Family Dinner and Montefalco Rosso by Our Good Life
• Have Wine. Will Travel. Umbrian Wines on a Summer Road Trip by Culinary Cam (
• Meeting Umbria’s Emma Di Filippo + Her Vernaccia di Cannara Colli Martani DOC Paired with Nonna’s Chocolate Cake by Wine Predator…Gwendolyn Alley
• Versatile Trebbiano Spoletino; a New Star from Umbria by Food Wine Click!