Adventures in Umbria

 Dr. C. and I spent 6 weeks in Spello this fall, and had some lovely adventures.  On my birthday we went to one of my favorite restaurants in Montefalco, and then had the privilege of going to visit the Tili Vineyard for a wine tasting and chat with Anna Laura and Maria Palma Tili.  I can't think of a better way to have spent the day.  Our family at Enoteca Properzio arranged the wine tasting, which took place at the top of the hill outside of Spello.  Known for its beautifully crafted organic wines, Tili also presses its olives for olive oil, which was delicious.  Over 20 years ago, we first tasted their Sacreterre, and fell in love with its complexity and flavor.  

L-R: Anna Laura, Maria Palma, Marco, Pietro

Situated halfway up Mount Subasio, the sacred mountain of St. Francis, the views over the valley are spectacular.   

A new tasting room has opened with beautiful view of the valley

When we arrived, they were crushing the Sangiovese grapes for their famous Tili Rosso, one of my favorites

All of my favorite wines are in one place; what could be better?  If you haven't tasted Grecchetto, an indigenous white grape to Umbria, you need to try this one.  It is superb.  

We tasted wines, along with cheese, salumi and bread from the region.  Pairing the products of the region with the wines is the ultimate marriage.  The Italians consider wine to be food, and so it should complement whatever you are serving.  We ended our day with this beautiful sunset over the valley and promises to return next year.  

Grazie Tili Vini, and Enoteca Properzio for the invitation.  It was a magical day.  

Wining

Our friends are here from London and we asked our famiy at Enoteca Properzio if they could arrange a tour of the Arnaldo Caprai winery. Caprai is the largest producer of Sagrantino wine here in Umbria.  It's a great story, about how Arnaldo decided to take a sweet wine, used for mass with communion, and age it into an incredible robust red wine.  Sagrantino is only grown here in Umbria and at Caprai to tame the tanins in the wine, the grapes are aged in new French barriques.
We headed to Montefalco, one of the main wine growing regions here, where there is a Strada del Vini, or wine road.

We drove up to the gates, and then drove through the canopy of olive trees lining the drive way to get to the cantina.

Once at the top of the hill, we were welcomed into the tasting room, and on our way with our guide Francesca.  She was delightful, giving us a history of the winery, as well as telling us which wines were new, and how each was aged.

Caprai makes white and red wines, and this was an interesting cellar, below the tasting room.

Once outside Francesca told us about the different wines, and the winery's  partnership with the University of Milan to make the best wine in this area.

Once inside we were taken to the fermentation rooms, and then the aging rooms.  The smell of wine, and oak was delicious!

This is the bottling room, and although it wasn't in progress, I felt like it was a perfect place for an "I Love Lucy" episode.

Once the tour was over we were taken to the tasting room, and were seated outside on the terrace overlooking the vineyards.  We selected 2 whites, and a red, paired with cheeses, and salumi.  It was a grand feast, but we needed to get on, since we had a lunch reservation in Montefalco.

Grazie Enoteca Properzio for arranging this amazing tour, and to Francesca and Arnaldo Caprai for an awesome tour, and for making us feel so welcome.
On another note, il Giro di Italia is happening in this area today.  Think tour de France, only in Italy.  More on that in my next post.

Wine Tasting in Montefalco

Another day, another day trip to the country.  With home base in Spello, we can easily visit beautiful hill towns within 20 to 30 minutes.  Today, we decided to visit Arnaldo Caprai, the largest producer of Sagantino wine in Umbria.  With our entry reservation arranged by Enoteca Properzio we arrived at 11 a.m. and were blown away by the color of the vineyards, beginning to turn autumn colors.  The landscape here in Umbria is breathtaking: look one way you see a brilliant pink stone city on a hill, look the other and you see nothing but the feathery grey green leaves of olive trees dotting the hillsides, and look farther and you see the bright yellows and rusty reds of the vineyards planted on the hillsides. 

Caprai is famous for their Sagrantino; originally only a dessert wine, or passito, in the late 1990's they decided to age it to see how it would taste.  Working with the local universities, they came upon the right way to age the wines, and the rest is history, with the wine being crowned the number one wine in Europe. 

We were taken to the fermentation rooms, where the wines were just at the end of their cycle, and then the to aging rooms.  Then up to the tasting rooms, where we sampled the white Grecchetto, and the reds.  There is a DOC wine in the area called "Montefalco Rosso", predominantly Sangiovese, with a bit of Sagrantino, Merlot and possibly other grapes, it is one of my favorite wines.  The 100% Sagrantino is the jewel in the crown here, and for good reason.  A wine with tannic flavors, it mellows out after aging, and is delicious paired with many dishes.  Grazie to the Caprai winery for such a beautiful morning. 

After tasting all these wines, we had to have lunch, so headed to L'Alchimista in nearby downtown Montefalco; I mean downtown in that it has a central piazza with a few restaurants surrounding the piazza. 

With our reservation made by Roberto at Enoteca Properzio, we decided to have the specials of the day.  Again, I'll let the photos speak for themselves. 

Since it is the celebration of the black celery, we had celery Parmigiana

Creamy celery soup with black truffles, olive oil and cippolini onion souffle

Gnocchi in Sagrantino

Fresh Strangozzi pasta, with black celery, sausage, and pumpkin

Pork Tenderloin braised in Sagrantino, with grapes (Mama Mia!)

Lemon sorbet with peaches poached in rosemary

After they rolled us out of here, we were on the road again back to home base in Spello.  What a beautiful way to spend the day.