DRINK

 

 

The Chronicles of Narni

Part III: The Voyage into wine – Strada del Sagrantino

 

 

 

 

We went in search of Sagrantino.

Like many industries, the wine industry has been hit hard by Coronavirus.

Many people are moving away from the soul-less online shopping relied upon during lockdowns, and looking for ways to support their local businesses, to help people who need your custom.

We got the opportunity to travel to a new region in Italy. And Umbria presented several new varietals to try and buy.

Sagrantino is a red wine from Umbria, typically powerful and with great depth of flavour. The native black grape is grown around the town of Montefalco, and is used to make these wines in dry (secco) and sweet styles. It is a requirement that the finished product is made with at least 95% Sagrantino, and aged for at least 30 months.

This sounded like a very different wine. Our interest was piqued.

I spoke with a company, about the possibility of a visit to several estates. They told me that they were not operating in 2020, due to Covid restrictions. Turns out we had been the first travellers to make an enquiry this year.

So we explored independently, heading to Montefalco, a recommendation by a contact who works in the wine business. We drove all over stunning Umbrian countryside, in search of Sagrantino.

Montefalco didn’t disappoint. We found several Sagrantino wines, which were really impressive; earthy, dry wines, and very different to the spicy Shiraz and punchy Pinotages that we usually drink.

Umbria’s neighbour, Tuscany, produces wines that are well marketed and widely consumed worldwide, like super popular Chianti, forever famous, thanks to Hannibal Lecter’s line in Silence of the lambs;

“I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice Chianti.”

The result is that up until now, so much wine tourism in Italy has been based in Tuscany. But that had been changing. Wine tourism was growing in Umbria. And then, Coronavirus happened. Everywhere that we went, we were the only people there.

But that will look different in the future, as tourists begin to return. There’s even an official wine trail for people to explore, the “Strada del Sagrantino.” We followed the purple signs, guiding wine lovers from one winery to the next. And we meandered from Spoleto towards Bastardo, in the province of Perugia. Yes, there is a town called Bastardo!

Apart from all the great wine, the greatest pleasure was being on a road trip again, our first this year, in a region that was new to us. We would pull over to look out at Umbria’s stunning landscapes: olive groves everywhere and green rolling hills. Picture postcard views. We chatted to people along our journey. Lovely long, conversations. People were willing to share their time with you and so happy to greet visitors again.

A highlight was visiting cantina “Terre di San Felice”, in the vicinity of Castel Ritaldi. We took a wrong turn and ended up at the farm next door to the wine estate. We chatted with the farmer. And I asked him to call the wine maker, to check that he was at home. He made the phone call. We were told, “come”.

We took the correct track and bumped along towards the vineyard, passing beautiful Muraiolo, Leccino and Frantoiano olive trees. The estate is over 3.5 hectares and it has been in the Manchini family since 1893. We passed rows and rows of grapes, which grow at an average altitude of 320m. And Winemaker Carlo Mancini welcomed us to his casa, like we were old friends. We felt instantly at home.

We three of us sat together in the kitchen, tasting his excellent Sagrantino and talking about wine. There was a diverse selection of wines to try, all brilliantly finished vintages, produced from handpicked grapes. 

We tried the intense garnet coloured Montefalco Sagrantino 2016 (100% Sagrantino grapes), another younger Sagrantino which was a good but not yet ready for release and finally the spicy Montefalco Rosso Riserva. This wine was a real find; 65% Sangiovese, 20% Merlot, 15% Sagrantino (Vintage: 2017) It was superb.

After we had tried all the wines, we bought wines to carry with us and Signor Mancini walked us back to the car. We chatted some more and finally hit the road back to Narni, with that familiar clinking sound of bottles rolling around in the boot. 

In some ways Montefalco reminded us of good friends in Robertson and exploring Route 62 in the Western Cape, the longest wine route in the world.  The area is so often overlooked by tourists who favour Stellenbosch and Franshoek, especially when rushing through South Africa in just a week a two. And often these less visited areas have a bit of magic, that’s missing in places more established to cater for mass tourism. Both Montefalco and Robertson are small regions, with a focus on good food. Small businesses are run by local people and are lacking in pretention. And both places have a very ‘gentile’ pace.

To a large extent, Umbrian wines have not yet been discovered. Many wine tourists will continue to travel to neighbouring Tuscany. We’re glad that we took the road less taken and got the chance to visit this so far under-rated part of Central Italy.

Which wine route in the world, would you recommend?

 

© Maggie M / Mother City Time