The Sagrantino grape is grown in a relatively small area around the ancient hilltop town of Montefalco in Italy’s Umbria region. The grape is thought to be an indigenous variety but there are different competing theories about its place of origin. But that’s really beside the point because the Sagrantino grape found a home it loves in central Italy.

Sagrantino is a thick-skinned, tannic red grape that produces big, intense and full-bodied wines. The wines - which bear the same name as the variety - are chock-full of tannins and acidity and can be tight as nails in their youth. They require careful vineyard management and extended ageing to soften their tannins and may take years, even decades for them to reach optimum maturity.

Montefalco Sagrantino was awarded DOCG status in 1993, one of only two DOCG designations for all of Umbria.

The vineyards are located in Montefalco on South/Southeast facing hills at 650 feet above sea level. The soils are a mixture of clay with good drainage. The vines were planted from 1999-2004.

The vineyards were harvested in late October, macerated and left to soak with the skins for 20 days in a temperature controlled environment with several pumpovers daily. The juice is then fermented in stainless steel tanks. The wine is aged for 12 month in steel and 18 months in oak (70% large oak & 30% barriques). The finished wine is then bottled 32 months after the harvest.

Rocca di Fabbri Estate was founded in 1984 by Pietro Vitali. He chose the Montefalco area because of its ancient grape-growing and winemaking traditions, whose practices were first introduced by the French Benedictine Monks, but later lost after the mid-sixteenth century. His desire was to replant those native grapes using special vine-growing methods in order to produce wines that could embody the fragrances of his homeland.

The inside of the Rocca, a fortress dating back to the 14th century, has been restored in the '80s to create the enchanting wine cellar, and a new building was built to house the modern winemaking equipment. Rocca di Fabbri has the privilege of making wine using only the grapes grown in the estate and, thanks to the proximity between the vineyards and the winery, the grapes are processed as soon as they are harvested.

Today, Rocca di Fabbri is run by the new generation of Vitali family. The estate extends over 60 hectares of vineyards producing iconic wines in Umbria.

On the label: Montefalco held up by St. Fortunato, from a painting by Francesco Melanzio (15th century).

Carefully selected Sagrantino grapes are subjected to a long maceration process to produce this wine which offers an extremely unique bouquet with hints of spices. Extremely rich and rounded by the extended maceration process in oak, it has a splendidly full body that makes it an ideal accompaniment for roasts and extra-mature hard cheeses & rich dishes. This wine is approachable now but has the potential to age 10+ years.