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Tenuta Alzatura 2017 Montefalco Sagrantino
£29.99
In stock
SKU
ITUMRALSA17B
- Buy 6 for £28.49 each and save 5%
Sagrantino is the speciality of the Umbrian town of Montefalco. This extraordinary variety has enormous potential for quality, and the wines are some of Italy's most potent.
Tenuta Alzatura takes Sagrantino very seriously. It appears as a small percentage of the blend in their Montefalco Rosso, alongside Sangiovese, but it reaches its full potential when it is 100% this variety, as in their Montefalco Sagrantino. The grape variety is known for its high concentration, high acidity, and high alcohol. All this together makes for wines that have remarkable ageing potential.
Alzatura releases its Sagrantino after extended bottle ageing; the current release is their staggering 2017. This wine is not for the faint-hearted. Clocking in at 16.5% alcohol, it has an Amarone-like concentration but without any appassimento. The wine is held together by its striking acidity and tannic density, making the whole wine feel compact and balanced.
The 2017 vintage was characterised by very little winter and growing season rainfall, with exceptionally high temperatures in July and August. A few frosts at the end of April reduced the potential yield. However, some rainfall in the first ten days of September allowed the plants to recover from the water deficit and complete ripening in a balanced manner and on schedule. The warm and dry weather during the summer period favoured an early ripening of the grapes, ensuring excellent cluster health. The wine spends 16 months in barriques.
This is for you if you enjoy complex wines with supreme concentration.
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The Producer
Tenuta Alzatura
Tenuta Alzatura is owned by Famiglia Cecchi, a Tuscan winegrower since 1893, and the owners of Villa Cerna, Val delle Rose, and Villa Rosa. Cecchi purchased this estate in the late 1990s, their first venture outside their homeland of Tuscany. Andrea Cecchi realised the great potential of Sangiovese in Umbria, but more importantly, the region's signature variety, Sagrantino.
Montefalco is a small region of around 800 hectares in the landlocked region of Umbria in Central Italy. This region shares a border with Tuscany, so the wines often fall into the sphere of influence of their more renowned neighbour, certainly with Sangiovese, one of the two important black varieties grown here. The other main variety is Sagrantino: a vine which nearly disappeared in the 1960s, but it's undergoing a solid revival, mostly but only partially down to the work of pioneering viticoltore Arnaldo Caprai, whose wines firmly put this variety back on the map In 1970 there were a mere 78 hectares of Sagrantino in Italy. The latest vine census 2010 recorded 994 hectares scattered between Umbria and Tuscany. This great work is continued by a band of highly motivated, small producers such Tenuta Alzatura.
The next variety due for revival is the rare Trebbiano Spoletino. There are seven varieties in Italy, all with the name Trebbiano, yet they are distinct varieties that have very little genetic connection. Alzatura has worked tirelessly to cultivate the best clones of this variety for their Montefalco Bianco, producing two rich, creamy whites.
The Sub Region
Montefalco & Montefalco Sagrantino
Montefalco is a DOC in Umbria, the landlocked region to the south of Tuscany: one of Italy's smaller regions for wine production. The DOC itself is 520 hectares dedicated mostly to Sangiovese which must constitute between 60 - 70% of the blend, and Sagrantino between 10 - 15%. Other varieties are allowed but can be no more than 30%.
The whites are mostly made from Grechetto, the main variety of nearby Orvieto, but there is a revived variety, Trebbiano Spoletino, that is the more interesting of the two.
Within the confines there is another DOC, a DOCG in fact, Montefalco Sagrantino, which there are further 400 hectares. This is a more powerful ageworthy red, one of central Italy's most distinctive wines. Montefalco Sagrantino can also come in the form of a sweet red, passito, also noteworthy and often delicious.
The region became famous because of the efforts one notable producer, Arnaldo Caprai, who elevated the quality and reputation of this hitherto little-known DOC/G. There are now several great producers in this region making distinctive and authentic wines. We follow the wines of Tenuta Alzatura who makes some superb wines with excellent price/quality ratio.
The Estates
Famiglia Cecchi
Famiglia Cecchi dates back 4 generations to 1893, originally based in Poggibonsi relocating to Castellina in Chianti in the 1960s. The family has been very shrewd in collecting vineyards in and around Tuscany, many of which located in prestigious sites. Without doubt, the Cecchis work hard at producing wines in authentic styles, something we hold very close to hearts here at Noble Grape, and at quite exceptional value for money. If there are better wines pound for pound in Tuscany and Umbria, we would like to hear about them.
The Tuscan properties comprise of Villa Cerna and Villa Rosa in Chianti Classico Le Corti del Podestà in San Gimignano, Val delle Rose in Maremma, and finallyTenuta Alzatura in the Umbrian DOC of Montefalco.
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