We recently attended a monthly wine tasting at our favorite Italian restaurant, Amici Miei. This month, they featured wines from Umbria. For anyone not familiar with Italy, Umbria is a beautiful area tucked between Tuscany on the west and Le Marche on the east, known for its fabulous hill towns. The most famous town in the region is Assisi, where St. Francis of Assisi was born and spent much of his life. Our favorite wine presenter from Siema Wine Imports led the tasting along with his special guest from Colsanto Wines, a producer in Umbria.

The tasting brought back great memories of our trips to the region. Umbria is known for such wines as Orvieto, Sagrantino, and numerous others. Orvieto is actually made primarily from Grechetto and Trebbiano (or Procanico, as it is known in Umbria) grapes, and it was known in the past by the Romans as “liquid gold” due to its golden-yellow color. Sagrantino is a grape native to Umbria, most particularly around the village of Montefalco.

We started the evening sipping a lovely Villa d’ Orvieto from 2012. As with all Orvieto wines, it has Grechetto and Trebbiano as well as a bit of Malvasia - the amount varies from year to year, although never more than 10% of the blend. This is a wonderful wine to enjoy on a warm summer day while sitting on the porch. It is beautifully pale gold, and it has a gorgeous light citrus and floral aroma and taste. We had a very similar wine when we visited the hill town of Orvieto. The other “bonus” wine was a Barbi Il Ruspo 2009, which was 100% Sangiovese Grosso. What a beautiful rusty-red color with a dusty cherry aroma. The wine was fairly light, tasting of sour cherry and tannins that complimented the cherry flavor.

Visiting an Etruscan wine cellar with our waiter in Orvieto.

Chef Davide then presented fried cod along with a lovely Barbi Arche Orvieto Classico Abboccato from 2012. This wine is a blend of the two classic grapes along with Verdello, Malvasia, and Vermentino. This had a more full-bodied taste, which went very well with the fried cod. In addition, there is a bit of residual sugar left in the wine, which gives it a slightly sweet taste. Again, a perfect wine to go along with slightly heavier food on a summer day.

The next wine was a gorgeous Vitiano Rosé from 2012. What a beautiful wine, especially paired with Shrimp Fra Diavolo! The bit of heat in the Fra Diavolo went so well with the grapefruit and crisp minerality of the wine. And it is a stunning bright rose color with purple glints. The rosé is a blend of Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Sangiovese, and Aleatico, another native Italian grape.

Then we got to the reds, the first being a Colsanto Ruris 2010. Chef paired this wine with a Salame Norcino. The wine is a blend of Sangiovese, Merlot, and Sagrantino. The guest speaker from Colsanto wines told us that the vineyards are between Perugia and Assisi. It has a super scent of dried roses, cherry, and spicy wild berries (with a bit of dusty leather!) and it has a wonderful dry, smoky taste with soft tannins. The salame went perfectly with the wine. The second red was a Colsanto Rosso di Montefalco 2009, paired with a gorgeous Hanger Steak that had an arugula pesto sauce. The Rosso is 50% Sagrantino and 50% Sangiovese, and the aroma was leather with dark berries. The black fruit, “meaty” taste went beautifully with the hanger steak. The speaker said that the wine is supposed to be reminiscent of the Body of Christ, as it was used primarily for Catholic Mass.

A vineyard outside Assisi. The Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi is the large structure on the left.

The last wine was a Colsanto Sagrantino di Montefalco 2009, a wine made from 100% Sagrantino grapes from the DOCG region around the town of Montefalco. This wine had the highest alcohol content (14%), and Chef paired it with an Aged Pecorino cheese, which was absolutely perfect. The wine is gorgeous red with a hint of purple, it has a dusty floral, dark fruit aroma with a hint of leather. The gorgeous tannins, rich spices, and black fruits are delicious - and with the tannins and the alcohol content, it would age for another 30 years and be even more tasty. Interestingly, Sagrantino di Montefalco was not made until around 1980, at which point winemakers in Montefalco began experimenting with this unique grape to stand on its own instead of automatically blending it with other grapes or using it as a sweet dessert wine. Sagrantino di Montefalco also goes beautifully with grilled steak - that’s how we enjoyed it in Umbria.

All these wines evoked great memories of our trips to Italy and the fun we had experimenting with wines unique to an particular town or region and the foods that go with the wine. And for those of you who want to try the wines, none of these are budget-busters. The most expensive is probably the Il Ruspo and the Sagrantino di Montefalco. The Orvietos are quite reasonable, and even the more expensive ones don’t go above $35.