Umbria: Taking It to the Next Level

BY ERIC GUIDO | NOVEMBER 29, 2022

The romance and terroir of Umbria alone are enough to excite any lover of Italian wine and culture. The vineyards surrounding Montefalco (“falcon mountain”), a medieval hilltop town, produce big, burly, age-worthy reds from Sagrantino. This grape seems to excel only here, while the age-worthy bianco, Orvieto, has been enjoyed internationally long before many of Italy’s inspired white wines were ever discussed. Trebbiano Spoletino, another native white, has emerged and is now turning heads and receiving much attention from producers. Umbria is one of Italy’s few landlocked regions, with a terroir so unique and complicated that it can also shine at producing its distinctive take on Sangiovese and a host of international varieties. As witnessed by these varieties, the region is one of the most interesting and diverse in all of Italy.

An Umbrian vineyard landscape shows the mixed biodiversity that still prevails here.

A Bit on the Geography

To understand the wines from Umbria, it is paramount to place importance on geography. While Umbria shares borders with Tuscany to the west, Marche to the east and Lazio to the south, it bears little similarities to any of these regions. The only possible exception is the extreme south, where Umbria meets Lazio. This is because the viticultural regions are engulfed by the Apennine mountains on all but one side, which creates a set of unique terroirs. Umbria is generally warm by day, as the Tiber River carries air currents from the Mediterranean. Still, it is drastically cool by night as strong winds blow in from the mountains. Umbria is on average drier than the surrounding regions, as the Apennines trap weather patterns from the Adriatic and Mediterranean Seas. The soils are rich in clay with a mix of sand and limestone giving way to clay-calcrete, an almost-cement-like blend of clay, gravel, sand and silt at higher elevations. Yet along the western and southern borders, where Orvieto is king, vines dig deep into a hard mineral-rich clay of volcanic origins. Here the weather is moderated by the sheer size of lakes Corbara and Trasimeno. 

Barrel aging in the Tabarrini cellars.

Umbrian Reds Are Coming of Age