A fresh but sunny morning greeted us for the first full day on tour. Our focus was to be on the famous wines of Montefalco – not a particularly well known area but one that has become the flagship of Umbria and renowned for intense, concentrated reds with great potential for ageing. Our first visit was to Cantine Dionigi – run by husband and wife team Roberto and Carolina. This is typical of many Montefalco estates – small and family run – with production a mere 65000 bottles. We experienced a quite amazing selection of Grechetto whites, Montefalco Rosso Riserva and a vertical tasting of five vintages of the DOCG Sagrantino di Montefalco 2007, 2004, 2003, 2002 and 2001. If that wasn’t enough we finished off with a Grechetto Passito – perhaps the only one in the world and the more famous Sagrantino Passito. 10 wines at an average alcohol % of 15%! And all this before lunch…..
A 20 minute power nap was called for during the journey to our lunch visit – Cantina Raina. Francesco was our host and he had prepared a magnificent lunch of local salamis and fresh goats cheese, followed by a pork shoulder sauced pasta, moving through to a delicious Chianina beef casserole. We squeezed in a bit of cheesecake as well. The meal was prepared with his elegant wines: Trebbiano Spoletino, Rosso di Montefalco, Sagrantino di Montefalco and Sagrantino Passito.
An extraordinary day by any standards!