Wine Review: Antonelli Montefalco Sagrantino DOCG 2012

This week I'm reviewing two wines from Montefalco, Italy. Today I'll be doing Tenuta Alzatura Montefalco Rosso DOC 2014 and on Sunday it'll be Antonelli Montefalco Sagrantino 2012.

Montefalco is an ancient town and commune within the Colli Martana DOCG of Umbria and it's been one of those hot wine regions of late that everybody is talking about. Montefalco has three tiers to its wine categorization: Montefalco DO, Montefalco DOC (Montefalco Bianco, Monterfalco Rosso, Montefalco Rosso Riserva), and Sagrantino di Montefalco DOCG. Forgive me if I've missed any.

MONTEFALCO
IMAGE CREDIT: stradadelsagrantino.it

Antonelli Montefalco Sagrantino 2012 is 100% Sagrantino, as all wines of the Montefalco Sagrantino DOCG must be. This is also from Montefalco which you think would be a gimme, right? Buuuuuuut I guess all wines of the Montefalco Sagrantino DOGC don't have to be from Montefalco because the fellow Umbrian communes of Giano dell'Umbria, Bevagna, Gualdo Cattaneo, and Castel Ritaldi also qualify to use the DOCG.

Gravity feed was used for vinification and it fermented with its skins for twenty-five to forty days at 77°-82°F. Apparently it also "clarified spontaneously with no need for filtration." Sooooo... magic? Wines of this DOCG must be aged for a minimum of thirty-six months but, as we saw with the Tenuta Alzatura Montefalco Rosso DOC 2014, that doesn't mean just oak aging and includes bottle aging. This one had six months in lightly toasted 500L barrels, eighteen months in 25hL oak barrels, twelves months in glass lined cement vats, and then twelve months in the bottle. Lemme do my math... *mouthing numbers* uuuuh, carry the four *confused look* I don't know how to math, but my calculator says that's forty-eight months. So four years, or eleven months longer than the DOCG minimum.

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Wine Review: Tenuta Alzatura Montefalco Rosso DOC 2014

This week I'm reviewing two wines from Montefalco, Italy. Today I'll be doing Tenuta Alzatura Montefalco Rosso DOC 2014 and on Sunday it'll be Antonelli Montefalco Sagrantino 2012.

Montefalco is an ancient town and commune within the Colli Martana DOCG of Umbria and it's been one of those hot wine regions of late that everybody is talking about. Montefalco has three tiers to its wine categorization: Montefalco DO, Montefalco DOC (Montefalco Bianco, Monterfalco Rosso, Montefalco Rosso Riserva), and Sagrantino di Montefalco DOCG. Forgive me if I've missed any.

MONTEFALCO
IMAGE CREDIT: tenutastella.it

The Montefalco DOC, both for Bianco (white) and Rosso (red), was created in 1979. So I was a fetus when this DOC was born. Nice. The Rosso has to have a minimum from 60% to 70% Sangiovese, at least 10% to 15% Sagrantino, and pretty much whatever you want for the remaining 30% or less. It also needs to be aged for eighteen months. However, as you'll see, that doesn't appear to mean just oak aging but includes bottle aging.

Tenuta Alzatura Montefalco Rosso DOC 2014 is 70% Sangiovese, 15% Sagrantino, and 15% Merlot. Fermentation was done using "traditional" temperature control (I'm not sure what "traditional" means, like if it's not in stainless steel or whatever) on its skin at 61°F for fifteen days, then it saw fourteen months in barriques (not the minimum for aging) and another four months of bottle aging (putting it right at the eighteen month minimum for aging).

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