2011 Montefalco Sagrantino Colle alle Macchie

Four generations and counting of the Tabarrini family have been making wine, but it was only in the late ’90s, when the passionate and ultra-energetic Giampaolo Tabarrini took the helm, that the family began estate bottling, quickly leapfrogging to the upper echelons of the Montefalco winemaking aristocracy. The estate owns 22 hectares, 11 of which are under vine, and is especially known for extremely powerful Sagrantino wines that require years of patience to shed their tannic cloak. In my opinion, the estate’s Trebbiano Spoletino wine, Adarmando, made from old vines of a specific local biotype, usually shows better balance than the reds and is one of Umbria’s best white wines.