“This is one of the most important products in the panorama of Italian wines. Are you familiar with it?” I was haplessly ignorant as Eleonara Marzi began her presentation on sagrantino wines. Over the next week though, we would drink the hometown favorite of Umbria more times than I could remember.

Sagrantino is a native grape variety that has been cultivated in Montefalco for over 400 years, and sagrantino secco is recognized as a DOCG wine indigenous to Umbria. However, until the 1970s, most Umbrian wineries focused on producing merlot and cabernet sauvignon. Sagrantino was mostly relegated to the production of passito, or sweet dessert wines. This was due in part to the intensity of sagrantino grapes, which are higher in tannins and polyphenols than any other grape. To combat the persistence of the tannins, farmers generally added sugar to increase the softness of the wine and make it more drinkable.

In the winemaking world, the Arnaldo Caprai winery is credited with promoting and elevating sagrantino to the vaunted world-famous status it holds today. After the phylloxera fungal plague of the 19th century, most sagrantino vines died out and only a few hectares remained under cultivation. Through their collaboration with the University of Milan, the winery selected and propagated the best sagrantino clones, while retaining variability within the sagrantino variety, thereby safeguarding an important part of Italian ampelography. Plants were tailored to match the soil composition, microclimate and altitude of their vineyard.
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