Red wine

Montefalco Sagrantino

Robe — Near-black, impenetrable ruby

  • blackberry
  • plum
  • tar
  • blue flowers
  • black tea
Palate
Massive tannin and depth; needs long ageing to unwind
Ageing
10–25 years
Serving
17–18 °C, decant at length

One of the most tannic dry red wines in existence, Montefalco Sagrantino is the modern reinvention of an ancient sacramental wine — for centuries Sagrantino was dried and made sweet for the altar, and only in the late twentieth century was it turned into a monumental dry red. Nearly black, dense and structured, it needs a decade to soften.

Made only from the Sagrantino grape on the hills around the town of Montefalco, it rescued a variety that had all but vanished and put Umbria back among Italy's serious red regions. Uncompromising and built for the long haul, it is a wine for patient cellars.

The blend

A typical modern composition

Where it is made

Producers

A few estates working in this style today — a sample, not a ranking

Through time

Indicative presence index, 0–100Origins & Antiquity — 5The Monastic Middle Ages — 30Exploration & the Fortified Age — 30Classifications & the Golden Age — 30Phylloxera & the World Crises — 25The Modern & New World Era — 60Antiquity5500150017001875195060