Italy is a beautiful country which offers lots of varieties of grapes & wines. I live in Tuscany but I also love Umbrian wines like Sagrantino di Montefalco, Torgiano Riserva, Rosso di Montefalco, Sagrantino di Montefalco Passito, and also several Umbrian white wines. The first of these is a DOCG wine (top level of quality certification for Italian wines) made with an autochthonous grape called Sagrantino – a cross of several clones of the area which was used at the beginning for religion functions – that grows only in Montefalco, a small picturesque hill town not far from Assisi – home to St. Francis. Sagrantino is the most famous wine of Umbria, and is characterised by a dark ruby colour, intense nose, complex, rich, wonderful taste, dry, warm, tannic, persistent and with a long finish: this wine can be paired with rich & complex food like that featured in traditional Umbrian cuisine. As Certified Sommelier and wine guide I often give private Sangrantino wine tours visiting Umbrian wineries, and include it in my guided wine tastings and also in special dinners & celebrations for weddings, anniversaries, birthdays in private Tuscany & Umbria villas.
I love Cortona, Tuscany where I am based but I also keep Umbria in my heart not only for its wines, but also its food. This region offers great truffles, salami, ham and cheeses (Norcia), several types of homemade pasta, chocolate (Perugia), good olive oil, and last but not least a great landscape with green hills covered by olive groves. When you plan to visit Italy do not forget to include a trip to Umbria to live a once in a life time experience with my private Sagrantino wine & Umbria food tours, savouring lots of wines and delicious traditional Umbrian food in historic & modern wineries of this beautiful region of Italy.
