As a quick primer for those who are not familiar with Italian wine, the top designations in the certification system are the Denominazione di Origine Controllata (DOC) and the Denominazione di Origine Controllata Garantita (DOCG), the latter being a step above the former, requiring tasting panels and numbered bottles to deter counterfeiting. These designations also apply to food products as Italy’s gastronomic production is as local and monitored for excellence as its viticulture. In fact, “local” is the key word in Italy because there is also the Indicazione Geografica Tipica (IGT) designation that many Italian winemakers use to distinguish the local certified origin of their product without having to adhere to DOC or DOCG regulations that they may deem too strict—in terms of specific varietals and aging rules—for the type of wine they wish to produce.

In total, there are 11 DOCs, two DOCGs and 6 IGTs (Allerona, Bettona, Cannara, Narni, Spello and the region-wide Umbria IGT) in Umbria. Only 17 percent of the wines produced in the region were DOC and DOCG level. As such, we decided to represent the region by selecting only one DOCG wine and two IGT wines.

Azienda Agraria Moretti Omero is a small estate, 77 acres in total, with about 4,500 olive trees and 38,000 vines (26 acres). It is in the subregion of Giano dell'Umbria, itself a small region in the southeast Montefalco appellation; however, in the last ten years the subregion has seen vineyards increase from 30 farms to 62.

The origins of Moretti’s property dates to 1925 when Domenico Moretti emigrated from Switzerland and used his savings to buy his first olive grove. His grandson Omero joined the family business in 1975, and by 1992 Omero was farming organically and became the second estate and winery in Umbria to become certified organic. The business remains family-operated with Omero’s mother, Quinta, maintaining a matriarchal presence, and Omero and his wife Daniela and his two daughters, Lucia and Giusy, intimately involved in daily operations.

Giusy was recently interviewed by Wine Spectator and explained how the winery transformed its Montefalco Sagrantino to a more feminine approach. She maintained that in the early 2000s Sagrantino wines had become excessively potent, which she believes was because all the producers were men who had developed a “macho” culture of competing on who could make the fullest body alcoholic wines. She decided that the Sagrantino wines of Azienda Agraria Moretti would stand out, and with the help of her mother and sister, she pushed for an earlier harvest of their own estate Sagrantino grapes to tame the alcohol level and create a wine that is more balanced and versatile.

Giusy Moretti was outspoken in her views on how the estate’s DOCG Sagrantino grape should be managed.

From left: Lucia, Quinta, Omero, Daniela, Giusy.

A little essential knowledge about the Sagrantino varietal and Montefalco where it is grown: Although there is documentation mentioning the grape varietal dating to 1598, and in 1925, the township of Montefalco was named Umbria’s most important area at the region’s principal wine fair, by the early 1970s, Montefalco’s wine production had practically disappeared due to migration of most of the region’s agriculture population to urban areas. It took dedicated families in the region to rescue the Sagrantino grape from near-extinction, notably the Caprai family, along with the Adanti, Benincasa and Antonelli families.

The Sagrantino varietal is not an easy grape to grow; the leaves on the vines must be scrupulously tended to maintain the proper canopy to shield the grapes. The grapes themselves must be harvested at the perfect ripeness, which also entails frequent green harvesting, which is the practice of removing unripe grape bunches from vines one or several times close to harvest time, which reduces the overall yield of the vine, but allows the remaining grapes to ripen more fully. Once in the cellar, it is difficult to tame the intense density of tannins in the grape while vinifying. All of this translates into a restricted production volume for wine made from Sagrantino.

Còlpetrone estate near the village Marcellano.

The estate that we chose to represent the Sagrantino di Montefalco DOCG is owned by Saiagricola, an agricultural investment company operating farms in several product sectors throughout Italy, and the subsidiary of Unipol Insurance Company. Their winemaking portfolio includes DOCG enterprises that are considered lucrative investments: Vino Nobile di Montepulciano by Fattoria del Cerro, Brunello di Montalcino by La Poderina, Vermentino and Val di Cornia by Monterufoli, and Sagrantino di Montefalco by Còlpetrone. The farms are business partners of Saiagricola, and each venture by the investment company was selected for its growth potential. In this case, as mentioned earlier, Sagrantino wines have made a comeback in the last 30 years. The Còlpetrone estate encompasses 155 acres and works with multiple varietals—Sagrantino, Sangiovese, Trebbiano, Chardonnay, Moscato, Malvasia, Grechetto, and Merlot—and produces 200,000 bottles annually. The winery is in the tiny village of Marcellano just outside of Gualdo Cattaneo, and the company contracts with Riccardo Cotarella as the estate’s winemaker. Cotarella is credited with inventing the profession of global winemaker. He and his brother Renzo founded Family Cotarella, which today is led by their daughters, Dominga, Marta and Errica. 

The Sagrantino vineyards sit atop a hill.

In the early 1900s, Decio Fongoli purchased real estate that included several farms on the top of the major hill in San Marco, in the center of the Montefalco wine-making area. Vineyards were only part of the portfolio along with olives, other crops and livestock. Decio’s son Angelo was the first to bottle wine from the vineyards in the 1940s, and by 1977, Angelo's passion for winemaking led to the first DOC Sagrantino di Montefalco. He subsequently won awards, such as the Dujia D'Or for Montefalco Rosso in 1981 and 1983 and other local awards.

Today the property covers about 86 acres, 23 of which are vineyards, 6 forest, and the rest truffle ground and meadows. It is managed entirely according to biodynamic principles by Angelo’s nephew and grand-nephew, Decio and Angelo, respectively. The family team is especially mindful of vineyard management, and dedicating entire vine rows to specific wines, planting only the grapes destined for that label. Each row is then named after the wine it will become, reinforcing the idea that every bottle is tied to a specific place.

Featured July Amaro Wine Club wine from Umbria: Fongoli Umbria Biancofongoli Trebbiano Spoletino (2024)
VARIETALS: 85% Trebbiano Spoletino, 15% Grechetto

This is another example of a producer who works, and has been very successful, with DOC wines in Montefalco, but has the confidence and creativity to express unique wines through the IGT designation, also. For this wine, the grapes come from certified-biodynamic vines that were planted from 1999 to 2008 in heavy clay-limestone soil. They were hand-harvested in whole bunches early in the morning and immediately destemmed and gently pressed while the fruit was still cool.
Only the free-run juice is fermented spontaneously in open vats without temperature control or sulfur and with a 2-day maceration. The wine is aged on its fine lees in steel tank and bottled without any sulfur or filtration to achieve the purest expression of the grapes possible.

FOOD PAIRINGS: seafood pasta, risotto, poultry dishes, legume soups, spelt, fried foods, particularly fish

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