Umbria Flashcards
Grapes
Sangiovese: 20% Trebbiano Toscano: 12% Grechetto di Orvieto: 11% Merlot: 10% Sagrantino: 7% Cab Sauv: 5%
Climate
Warm, mildly continental climate.
Hot summers can lead to heat stress.
800mm of rain falling mainly in autumn and winter. Enough to be stored in the winter and supplied throughout the growing season. Dryness reduces risk of fungal disease.
Risk of rain in September and October can impact harvest. But also dry enough to allow for late harvest and botrtyized wines
Grechetto
White thick skinned
Resistant to fungal diseases and good for late harvesting
Good resistance to downy mildew
Low to med intensity lemon and white flowers. High acid, med body
Sagrantino
Needs full sunshine and heat to ripen. Moderately productive.
On hillsides of 220m - 470m for good sunlight and drainage. Guyot or Cordon and VSP.
Spiders can live on undersides of leaves and reduce vegetative growth. Vine moths, powdery and downy mildew also.
Very tannic. Deep ruby, med plus to pronounced blackberry and red plum, high acid and tannin. Requires long aging before ready to drink.
DOC’s
Orvieto DOC
Montefalco Rosso DOC
Sagrantino di Montefalco DOC
Orvieto DOC
On the western edge
There is a Classico zone around the town of the same name
Must be min 60% Trebbiano Toscano and / or Grechetto and be grown at 100 - 550m. Better quality will include more Grechetto for more intensity. Max yields 77hl/ha. Superiore 56hl/ha
Med minus lemon, apple; top end of med alcohol, med plus acid and light body. Good and inexpensive.
Can be dry, off-dry and sweet. For sweet can be late harvest (vendemmia tardiva) and noble rot (muffa nobile)
Dry are fermented in stainless at cool temps to retain primary. Briefly aged in stainless and meant to be drunk young.
Barberani
Montefalco Rosso DOC and Sagrantino di Montefalco DOCG
Rosso di Montefalco DOC: Sangiovese (60% - 70%) with Sagrantino (10% - 15%). Max 77hl/ha. Min 18 mo aging.
Sagrantino di Montefalco DOCG: 100% Sagrantino. 52hl/ha. 33 mo aging of which one in wood. Single vineyards can be on label. Very good to outstanding and mid to prem. 650ha (4x vs 2000)
Historically, very long maceration (2 mo) was common. Now more often 2 - 3 weeks to avoid harsh tannin extraction. Some use new French oak for further softening (Armaldo Caprai) while others use traditional large casks and bottle aging.
Montefalco consortium is raising standards via weather stations data to predict diseases. Helps to reduce chemicals. 60% export.
Business
Several large co’s leading organic and sustainability: Barberani in Orvieto; Lungarotti, Amaldo Caprai
