Umbria – New Releases

Wine lovers may know Umbria best for its easy-drinking Orvieto and full-bodied, ultra-tannic Sagrantinos, but the region offers much more than that, including spicy, aromatic Trebbiano Spoletinos, as well as Cabernets and Merlots that will appeal to those with more international palates.

With its lush, green scenery, the hilly, landlocked region of Umbria looks quite similar to adjacent southern Tuscany and northern Lazio. Its wines are varied and interesting, with the reds made mainly from local varieties such as Sangiovese and Sagrantino, and its whites from the likes of Grechetto di Todi, Grechetto di Orvieto, Trebbiano Spoletino, Procanico and Verdello. International grapes are also grown, especially Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc.

The Numbers Game

Statistics must be taken with a grain of salt in Italy, where contradictory if not downright erroneous statistics are commonplace. Nevertheless, in 2014 Umbria produced 670,000 hectoliters of wine (5% less than the 706,000 hectoliters made in 2013). This was actually 17% less than the recent five-year production average in Umbria, which hovered around 800,000 hectoliters. By contrast, Italy’s overall wine production was just 12% lower than the five-year average. However, while Umbria appears to be producing less wine of late, its wines are at least theoretically better: DOC wine production in 2014 was 289,000 hectoliters (up 12% from 2013, and 2% above the 2008-2013 average). In fact, DOC wines now represent 44% of the region’s yearly output, which is far superior to Italy’s 34% average. It is Umbria’s IGT wines and especially its Vini da Tavola that are significantly decreasing in volume. And although it may come as a surprise to some readers, Umbrian wine production is divided fairly evenly between white and red wines.

A Few Bumps Along the Way

Unfortunately, for many years Umbria was the private buying reserve of big out-of-the region estates (mainly Tuscan), and clearly this did not do much for the region’s wine quality. Local wine producers were happy just to sell mainly bulk wine. Even when the new generation took over their families’ wineries in the ’80s and ’90s, they were disadvantaged by not having much experience with quality winemaking—or with making true wines of place.