Joseph Conrad's Favorite Wine: The Heart of Darkness, Old School Sagrantino, - I Love The Smell Of Sagrantino In The Morning

 2017 Tenuta Col Falco Sagrantino di Montefalco
 - Traditionally Made Sagrantino di Montefalcos Are Among Italy's Most Impressive Wines
 - A Crazy Dense Wine That Should Be Unbelievable with Some Mid-Term Cellaring
 - Complex. Deep Nose with Dark Fruits, Spice, and Flowers
 - Aromatic Elegance Is ELITE Despite the Density
 - Stunning Palate Density.  Blackberries, Chocolate, Licorice - Amazing
 - Terrific Structure and Great Acidic Balance - Will Age for   Decades
 - At $29.99 You Will Be So, So Happy You Have This in Your Cellar

2016 Tenuta Col Falco Montefalco Rosso
 - A "Baby Sagrantino" To Drink While "Big Brother" Ages
 - Medium Cherry Fruits, Spice, Terrific Structure
 - Can Be Drunk Now with a Decant
 - Better than Almost All the Sagrantino di Montefalcos I Had This Year
 - Case Pricing
 -  At $18.99 Maybe the Best PFR (Price Fruit Ratio) We've Sold

2015 Tenuta Col Falco Sagrantino di Montefalco Passito
 - A Conversation Stopper and a Conversation Starter
 - Insanely Low Yields of 15 hl/ha
 - Sick Bouquet: the Purest Blackberry and Blueberry Jam
 - Palate: Sweet and Rich 
 - Blackberries, Blueberries, Licorice and Spice

 - Everyone Needs a Sagrantino Passito in the Cellar

I'll admit that I generally did not enjoy the mysteries of literary analysis during my time in high school.  My general attitude to our trying to to probe the depths of symbolism can be summed up in Freud's famous line, "sometimes a cigar is just a cigar." Having said that, I absolutely loved Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness. The sheer density of the prose. The way that our thin veneer of civilization sloughs off the characters as they travel deeper inland and up river. And, of course, I love Coppola's deliciously pretentious Apocalypse Now which was based on the book. I love the smell of Sagrantino in the morning. 

Sagrantino di Montefalco

Sagrantino di Montefalco is a wine that has become popular over my career.  It is a wine, like Conrad, that is difficult to approach. Indeed, on my visit, the newly opened bottles were so impenetrable that I had to take a winery tour to let them air before tasting.  Yet it is a wine that when made traditionally can be plumbed like the depths of the human soul. It is as deep, dark and dense as any Pommard, perhaps even more so. When it all integrates with age, it is one of the most delicious wines in the world as well.  Being able to open a mature Sagrantino is one of the wine world's most alluring experiences.

The Winery

Some of these wines are now trading for $80+.  And to be honest, there is a lot of really poorly
made wine in Montefalco. But, after drinking a good amount of flawed wine, I managed to find an old, old, old school producer making traditional wines in Montefalco but with a high degree of skill. And the wines seem to be very popular in the area with no advertising so they are extremely affordable for a wine of this quality. Indeed, the winery seems to be protected by wild and rather unfriendly dogs so most casually interested importers are deterred from even trying the wines. This is a major find for our customers who like wines from Montefalco. Remember, Montefalco is not like the Langhe or Tuscany - prices have not yet skyrocketed and the values here can be dramatic.

The Wines

The first wine is the 2017 Tenuta Col Falco Sagrantino di Montefalco for $29.99 a bottle on a 4-pack. This is a wine of such ridiculous density and complexity I can't believe it. Reminds me of Bea before he went full natural and was just classical Sagrantino. This is another all time Fass Selections value. When I tried it for the first time I had to let it sit for 45 minutes before I could get a read on it, which is typical for young Sagrantino. When it started to come around, it blew my head off.

The nose is deep, dark, dark black "heart of darkness" fruits. Plum and deep spice echo like in an endless cavern. Tons of the blackest cherries you can imagine. Late season for sure. Black licorice, herbs, black cherry, perfect blackberries. Some chocolate.  Unreal aromas. The aromas are not in a sweet fruity kind of way but in an essence of fruit kind of way. There are definitely hints of alluring spice and flowers that come out as the wine aerates but remain strong echoes for now. These should be much more prominent as the wine ages. The minerality is terrific on this and all the fruit rests on a massive bed of it. The bizarre thing is that the nose is so elegant despite the density.  Almost like a tank ballerina.  You would not think that it could have elite level elegance, but somehow it does.

The palate is swirling, staining sweet dark fruit. Black cherries and blackberries with oomph and loads of sweet tannin. The phenols in Sagrantino are off the chart so there are some big, but ripe tannins. Some beautiful and vivid black licorice. A bit of bittersweet chocolate. Some coffee. Great tannic structure with thoroughly sweet and velvety tannins. It has amazing palate density and impact. When it hits your mouth, you really feel the wine, almost like it's alive in a muscular, Norse God kind of way. Grippy. The great thing about this wine is that while Sagrantinos can be heavy and ponderous, this has very good acid balance which gives it all the freshness one could ask for. The finish pumps those wonderful Sagrantino tannins and has the puppy fat fruit to buffer it. The acid keeps it all fresh and persistent.  In 20 years that fruit gets so decadent. I've had 50-60 year old Sagrantino and they will and can compete with top Barolo and Barbaresco. You can get a sense of the wine now after a 2 hour decant but I think that it will need 3-5 years to really start to reveal the true range of what it is.  It's a wine that maybe you try one now but you want to cellar as much as possible; it will age and improve for decades. Sagrantino di Montefalcos are among the great wines of Italy when properly aged and this has the stuffing in terms of structure and acidic balance to age with the best of them. It is made in a super traditional style but in a modern looking, clean winery.

Aged in 25 hectolitre barrels for 36 months with another 6 in the bottle. Normally, I would have tried to sell this in a year to get it closer to its drinking window but the wines are selling out in Italy, so I had to sell this now. I tasted a LOT of Montefalco di Sagrantino last year and this was by far the best traditional producer.

The second wine is the 2016 Tenuta Col Falco Montefalco Rosso for $19.99 a bottle on a 4-pack and a special case price of $18.99 a bottle. While the grapes are different (65% Sangiovese, 15% Sagrantino, 20% Merlot ) this is basically a baby Montefalco di Sagrantino but you can drink it now with a 2 hour decant (yes a $19.99 wine that needs a 2 hour decant, Welcome to Fass Selections!). If this is metaphorically a baby, man it's a little monster (in a good way). This has the flavor profile of its big brother but with just a little bit more moderate dark cherry fruit as opposed to the blackberry of the 100% Sagrantino. 

The nose has dark cherries, plum spices, earth and a hint of bitterness that adds complexity. Huge cherries. I mean Andre the Giant huge. Spice and licorice and lovely accessibly. So friendly. Red cherries everywhere. Amazingly pure fruit. Sick nose. How is this so good for so little? Best under $20 Fass Italian red ever? For a wine at this price point, the level of aromatic complexity is extremely impressive.

Palate is rich and ripe with wonderful structure, sappy black and red fruits and a lovely hint of licorice. Spice echoes on the finish as well. Terrific refined tannins and great acids keep it fresh. Very good concentration. Terrific wine that makes you want another sip. Some incredible palate staining here for the money. Really nice acidity. This is a wine that you can certainly drink (with a decant now) on a Tuesday if you choose to ignore the complexity. The fruit and spice is really delicious. But you can also sit and ponder it over an evening like a Baby Sagrantino.  Honestly, this drinks better than most of the Sagrantinos I tried. This is aged for 24 months in 25 hectoliter barrels and then at least 4 months in bottle before release (obviously, this has around 18 months of barrel age at this point). A really crazy complex wine for the price.

Up next I have one of my favorite niche wines in the world, the 2015 Tenuta Col Falco Sagrantino di Montefalco Passito for $29.99 a bottle on a 3-pack. This is a 500ML bottle. What a great wine. There is nothing like this wine in the world. A great Sagrantino Passito is a conversation stopper and a conversation starter. It's like Sagrantino in cheat mode. It's one of those magical types of wines that is so intense but it's all in balance and pulls of that magical balancing act. Great Sagrantino Passito bridges the gap between red wine and dessert wine. This one does that masterfully. It's from the best grapes and then they are naturally dried on straw racks for 60 days. Insanely low yields of 15 hl/ha. Sick bouquet. So, so intense and one can get lost in it as it's beautiful and fascinating at the same time. Loads of purest blackberry and blueberry jam one can imagine. So much spice. Huge red cherries, black cherries, plum and such sweet herbs. Stunning and striking. After air it gets nutso. Nose is crazy. Vivid raisins, dark black fruits, spice, insane depth. Iodine, saline aspects as well. Wild berries. Insane minerality and spice. Almost smells like a hint of Chinato. So fragrant, so intense. Only like this because Passito Sagrantino is the bomb

Palate is sweet and rich with wonderful velvety tannins that are super enveloping and caressing. Blackberries, blueberries, licorice and spice.  The wine is sensual. Truly one of kind and the structure shows you how full bodied this wine is.  Incredibly persistent and sweet fruit on the finish with spicecake and licorice. Tannins are incredibly refined and the whole package comes across as super elegant. After air it's a wowser. Palate is a total OMG CENSORED. So rich, so decadent yet so FRESH as the acid and minerality give this insane freshness. Such purity and elegance. So so long. This is a freak show. Finishes dry and minerally with insane depth and length. Just awesome. Ageless wine. Just sick. Best red desert wine in the world. So so so so long. Hard to describe. One needs to taste. 

This is a joy. Have it with fruit jam tarts and biscuits which is what they have this with in Umbria. Also works with mature and ripe cheese. And of course dark chocolate. I think this can age for 10-15 years. Maybe longer. Great wine and everyone needs a Sagrantino Passito in the cellar. This is in a 500 ml bottle. 

The Estate

The estate was founded in 1970 by Giovanni Ruggieri who was certainly one of the first winemakers to believe in the potential of Montefalco.  It is now run by Giovanni's grandson Federico who is pretty much 100% focused on making great wines in the tradition of his grandfather - they seem to sell themselves.  Lucky for us when these get some age and get discovered these prices won't be seen again.

2017 Tenuta Col Falco Sagrantino di Montefalco - $31.99
 ($119.96 4-Pack) 

2016 Tenuta Col Falco Montefalco Rosso - $21.99 
($79.96 4-Pack, $227.88 12 Bottle Case {$18.99!}) 

2015 Tenuta Col Falco Sagrantino di Rosso Passito {500 ml} - $31.99 ($89.97 3-Pack)