The Umbrian Experience

So, about my Umbrian experience…

We were staying amongst the rather wild and empty hills of Umbria. The closest town was Spoletto, but to go to Montefalco wouldn’t take us longer then 1 hour. Because of the isolation of our house (nearest trattoria was about 7 km away of twisting, hilly road) we had to organize our meals at home, along with some more serious wine tasting sessions. Eventually it turned out to be the best solution: the restaurants in the area had a tendency to serve kind of “touristy” food, while the products of the region were awesome. Also our landlord was supplying us with fresh veggies and fruits from their garden, as well as homemade cakes…

http://www.agriturismovalnerina.it/home.htm

Both of us are devoted white wines drinkers, and, of course, we went through several lovely grechettos and trebbianos spolettino from Antonelli (nice choice – flowery, slightly spicy nose, for me best with simple food – prosciutto or seafood).
The interesting thing was that in Umbria, with it’s dry air, climate, and constantly present aromas of rosemary, truffles and venison, I suddenly started to feel a vampiric need for heavy, dry and even tannic wines. And that was exactly what the area had to offer.



Sololoro (Fontecolle, Montefalco 2005) – I really enjoyed this wine. It’s cuvee of sangiovese (about 70%), sagrantino, cabernet sauvignon and merlot. Nice structure, fresh and fruity. Tender but expressive. We had it with pasta with dried ricotta and truffles, wild boar sausage and local olive oil. (I would rate it 82/100)


Rubesco Lungarotti (Rosso di Torgiano, 2005) – forest fruits, some spices, it was a little bit too concentrated for me, but drank with serious steak (look at the grill) worked pretty nice (73/100).