2 months in a row, in 2 separate magazines (La Cucina Italiana - April and Gambero Rosso #30) I have read about Sagrantino di Montefalco and Montefalco Rosso. La Cucina calls it 'the best Italian wine you've (probably) never heard of. Has anyone here? Gambero Rosso should still be on the newstands and covers and rates many of those currently available. They cost between $15 and $90, with most being around $40

Producers are: Antonelli-San Marco, Arnaldo Caprai (the current standard), Colpetrone, Fattoria Milziade Antano, Fratelli Adanti, Scacciadiavoli, and Rocco di Fabbri.

If anyone wants more info or the phone numbers, let me know. They also recommend 2 restaurants in the area: Coccorone and Villa Pambuffetti

Karen:

I've transferred this topic over from the Miscellaneous Forum. I thought that it was pretty germane to this Forum and would get more attention here!

I've had some Sagrantino but unfortunately not particularly good ones. I have heard that there are some very good ones and remember looking at a bunch in that good enoteca in Perugia just down the hill from the main piazza there. To my knowledge, Sagrantino is considered to be one of the best, if not THE best, wine(s) from Umbria..... Sorry I don't have more info at this time, but maybe I can do a little research.

We noticed when eating out in a number of Umbrian restaurants that Sagrantino was nearly always the most expensive bottle(s) on the menus. At Osteria del Podesta in Bevagna (recommended by me here ) I had a superb pork cooked in Sagrantino. A marvellously rich sauce: I could call it burgundy coloured if it weren't for the vinous confusion

I only (stupidly) bought one bottle of Sagrantino there (1997 Terre de Trincia, L29500): not yet drunk. But the ordinary Montefalco Rosso can be a marvellous wine, too: I've drunk the Arnaldo Caprai, both in Umbria and having brought a couple home.

The reds from Torgiano are also highly thought of, I believe: something to seek out this summer, I hope.

Jonathan

We were at the Caprai fattoria a week ago and brought back two bottles of 1998 Sagrantino (25 euro each). My Italian chef connection insists that Caprai's products will be the new standard for all of Europe soon.

The original Sagrantino wine is the passito or dessert wine, which is ... odd. Nothing like the usual red sweet wines, Marsala, anything like that: someone will set me straight I think (I don't know much about wine) but I believe it's uncooked and unfortified; at any rate, it's curiously astringent and definitely an acquired taste: this from a guy who is very fond of the rather astringent Amarone, mind you.

The dry Sagrantino is a more recent development, owed to one man and company. Again, memory fails me here, I want to say Antinori started it, but that doesn't sound right. Anyhow, the dry Sagrantino is indeed an excellent wine, and yes, probably the best in Umbria. My favorite is Arnaldo Caprai.
   Jonathan is 100% on target, the just plain Rosso di Montefalco can be wonderful too. Here I give the (slight) edge to Adanti, which though a DOC Montefalco, is in fact grown mostly on land in the comune of Bevagna.
   I hope on the other hand for your sake Jonathan that I am wrong about Terre dei Trinci, or that they have improved. This is the label name for the cooperativa comunale of Foligno, and like many cooperative wines, it's not the best.

I ate at Coccorone once. It was good although not memorable.

Karen,
I didn't realize Gambero Rosso had a magazine that was available in the US. Is this in English? Do you buy it on a newstand or is it only available by subscription?

Thanks, Janet

Gambero Rosso, originally a creation of the Italian Communist Party (gasp), has a website. Their magazine, the contents of which look most fascinating, is, however, quite dearly priced. Does anyone subscribe?

Jonathon, I added your recommended restaurant to the SlowTrav restaurant list.

Yes, I do subscribe. It's a quarterly for $18.95 and available at a larger newstand. The contents include book reviews, wine, food and travel (not always or only Italy; this issue it was Portugal, for ex.) I enjoy it and think it's worth the price.

Bill wrote:

quote:

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The original Sagrantino wine is the passito or dessert wine [...] but I believe it's uncooked and unfortified

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. Yes: it's one of what the Oxford Companion calls "dried-grape wines": like Amarone and Recioto the grapes are allowed to dry out, after harvesting (as opposed to some German and French dessert wines, where they dry out on the vine). In the case of Recioto and Sagrantino Passito, this concentrates the sugars, resulting in a dessert wine.

The Gambero Rosso 2001 book likes the Arnaldo Caprai dry Sagrantino, too: and the entry reads as if Marco Caprai was, indeed, the one responsible for developing the style. I didn't try the Adanti wines last year: their (?main) sales office is in Bevagna's main street. I can't remember why we didn't go in!

I bought the Terre dei Trinci Sagrantino at the end of our stay: I think I was in penny-pinching mood, and couldn't persuade myself to spend more. Maybe this summer.

Because it's easy for us Brits with a car to take wine back home in quantity, I think many of us are used to looking for cheap everyday drinking. I certainly have a long history of low priced Gite-based holidays in France, and loading the car with Auchan's wine boxes (the best of the French hypers, IMO). And now, with a bit more money to spend in Italy, I'm not yet used to the idea of paying more than 15 euro per bottle.

Jonathan

The Gambero Rosso 2002 edition gave the Arnaldo Caprai '98 Sagrantino 25 Anni it's highest rating of 3 Glasses. The '93, '95 '96 and '97 also received 3 Glasses. Sounds like winner that I will look forward to trying in October. Colpetrone's '98 Sagrantino also recieve 3 glasses.
Tom

I met Paolo Bea at Montefalco and tasted his wines..incredible!!!he also has restored the fresco's in the Church there and they are also incredible.

I don't know if it is ok to plug my own company (is it Pauline?) but we sell Gamberro Rosso magazine to wine shops. So if anyone wants any back issues we have them and I can sell them for $4.00 plus a couple bucks for shipping. We also carry the Gamberro Rosso book and the new Slow Food book, plus an older Slow Food Wine Directory.

Plug away - what Slow Food book do you have? I picked up one in Italian on our last trip for Montalcino and Montepulciano. Post your company contact info.

What we have is a volume drawn from five years of the quarterly journal of Slow Food International. It is called "Slow Food, Collected Thoughts on Taste, Tradition, and the Honest Pleasures of Food."

They do have this book on Amazon for a great price (way better than you could get from me.) We do have a big selection of Italian wine books (and all wine books) so for a catalog you can email me at shannon@wineappreciation.com.