2011 Colpetrone Montefalco Sagrantino DOCG Umbria Italy 750 ml

When we sold the previous vintage of Còlpetrone’s deliciously earthy Montefalco Sagrantino two years ago, we couldn’t keep it in stock. That was partly our fault. This Umbrian behemoth, gloriously concentrated and wound with massive, chewy tannins, offers such extraordinary quality for the value that we cashed in our staff discounts and bought cases for our own cellars.

For the 2011 vintage, we bargained for a slighter larger allocation, as this year’s release comes with a 93-point endorsement from James Suckling, who writes: “This is full and delicious with mouth-coating tannins, driven acidity and a compact yet long finish.” A pristine library release, it has astounding complexity now and will only continue to improve for years.

Today, an incredible $25 for a wine that has more stuffing and spice than most $70 Brunellos and Amarones. For lovers of big, full-bodied reds, this should be impossible to stay away from. It certainly is for us.

When our own Master Sommelier Sur Lucero was building the initial wine list at Oenotri in downtown Napa, he made a point of recommending this Sagrantino to lovers of powerful Cabernet, and hit a home run every time—especially when mushrooms or truffles were on the menu. It’s a wine endowed with immense proportions of power and muscularity, anchored by a rich core of warm dark fruit. Leather, dusty red earth, smoked meat and saddle leather frame the assertive structure, with a balance of acid and herbal nuance that mark it as a wine of deep Italian heritage.

The ancient wine region in the landlocked province of Umbria, not far from Tuscany, has the warm growing season necessary to achieve the physiological ripeness of the grape’s polyphenolic tannins. The Sagrantino grape boasts the highest levels of beneficial polyphenol-antioxidants of any red wine grape we’re aware of—it’s powerful stuff, channeling sun and rich loam soils into awesome heft in the glass.  

Còlpetrone is the benchmark producer of the region, owned by the same company that operates the storied Montalcino estate La Poderina and Montepulciano’s Fattoria del Cerro. The winemaking team brings a level of dedication and knowledge to this grape that makes the Montefalco a worthy contender to your favorite Amarone.