The Italy Wine Project

Regions / Umbria

DOCGStill huntingEasy

Montefalco Sagrantino DOCG

IL PROGETTODOCGMONTEFALCO SAGRANTINOAAIT40656992Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita

No strip issued. I'm still hunting a bottle.

Sagrantino has the highest polyphenol content of any major grape, and the wine shows it: inky, dense, with blackberry, black plum, dried fig, cocoa, cloves and dried herbs, and tannin that can be brutal when young. Modern producers pick riper and use French oak to soften it; traditionalists like Paolo Bea make it wilder and more savory. It needs at least eight to ten years and the best (Caprai 25 Anni, Bea Pagliaro, Antonelli Chiusa di Pannone) go 25. The passito version, the original style, is a sweet, tannic dessert red made from dried grapes.

Still hunting

I'm still looking for a bottle of this.

If you make Montefalco Sagrantino, import it, or know who does, the form takes two minutes and I reply to every one.

Can you help me get one?

Bottles I'm chasing

  • Arnaldo Caprai

    Montefalco Sagrantino Collepiano

    The house that made Sagrantino famous; modern style, blackberry, cocoa and toasty oak over big but polished tannin.

    $40 to $55Wine-Searcher
  • Antonelli San Marco

    Montefalco Sagrantino

    Organic, classic and balanced, with dark cherry, dried herbs and firm tannin; Vias import, widely available.

    $35 to $45Wine-Searcher
  • Paolo Bea

    Montefalco Sagrantino Secco Pagliaro

    Rosenthal import; the cult natural-leaning version, unfiltered, with dried rose, fig, leather and tannin that takes 15 years.

    $110 to $150Wine-Searcher