In Italy, as in other parts of the wine-blessed world, there is a tendency to link certain regions with certain beloved grapes – thus the Chianti region in Tuscany with its sangiovese, the Veneto with its pinot grigio and all of Sicily with its nero d’avola. The commercial success of these grapes has inspired their plantings all over the wine world.

Yet if you want to taste sagrantino, you can’t go looking in your own backyard. You have to travel deep into the heart of Umbria – where St. Francis of Assisi made miracles and Gian Carlo Menotti made music – to a medieval hillside town and the lush vineyards that spread out around it. You have to travel to Montefalco.

A group of us did exactly that, as guests of the Consorzio Tutela Vini Montefalco – sure, we could say the “Montefalco wine growers association,” but that would be far less romantic. Staying and even sometimes dining at the lovely Villa Pambuffetti, we traveled out during the days to wineries strewn about the rolling countryside, including one with the coolest name owned by the same family that owns the villa. In the process, we learned a lot about the concept of “light lunch,” usually four courses starting with prosciutto and many local cheeses, plus way too much great wine, and we also enjoyed a dramatic encounter with the sagrantino grape.

For a long time (and in Italy, a “long time” is really long), the marketing types discouraged local winemakers from taking their bottles beyond the near-universal “family consumption.” Every shed or porch or garage around the old stone city of Montefalco seems to house a small-scale wine operation. The problem, said the marketing types, was tannins. Sagrantino was simply “too tannic” for global popularity, even though, of course, all red wines have tannins. Tannins are what make cabernet sauvignon (whether from Napa Valley or Bordeaux!) so wonderful, especially as those tannins soften with age.

Through better winemaking techniques in recent years, however, the old marketing wisdom has been rocked on its heels – as we are here to assure you. Montefalco now makes four different and terrific wines: Montefalco Bianco DOC (no tannins there anyway, since tannins come from the grape skins not used to make white wine); Montefalco Rosso DOC (in which sagrantino takes a backseat to local sangiovese), Montefalco Sagrantino DOCG (yes, it’s 100% our new favorite grape – the additional “G” for guaranteed), and a lush sweet wine we loved called Montefalco Sagrantino Passito DOCG.

If you stand back from a map of modern Italy, it would be hard to choose a more central location than Montefalco. Though Italy is anything but round, there is the temptation to think of the town on its hilltop as the bullseye. What’s more, within Umbria (a region to the east of Tuscany with its Mediterranean coast and its own, arguably even richer history), this inland town has always been a special place. It’s sometimes called The Balcony of Umbria, a reference to its heights offering views of any number of other legendary towns, including Assisi, Perugia and Spoleto.

As in Tuscany (though less developed than the pre-Tuscan Etruscan civilization there), Montefalco has an origin story. It was clearly inhabited as an agricultural village before the Roman Empire. Still, the town grew and came into its own finally in the Middle Ages. It was then that Emperor Frederick II of Swabia paid a visit and noticed the large number of falcons winging it between mountain, forest and valley. Frederick was actually an expert on falcons and the esoteric art/sport of falconry, author of the famed but maybe-not bestselling book The Treatise on Falcony. He changed the town’s name from Coccorone to Montefalco, meaning Falcon Mountain.

Like all the other famous towns (borghi) of Umbria, Montefalco served as more or less a city state, whatever powerful family or group claimed ownership and tried to collect taxes. That meant defense was paramount, and that, as elsewhere, explains the hilltop location and no small number of walls. After all, during those times, pre-religious St. Frances had ridden off to war for his Assisi against Perugia. Many historians have observed that for spoiled, rich young men, war was something closer to futbol. It was all about the colorful banners.

To this day, Montefalco maintains its medieval atmosphere, especially in its Centro Storico. There is a lovely central square, with palaces around the edges and a graceful smattering of restaurants and cafes with outdoor seating. Still, much of the old town is done in the style we see elsewhere around Umbria – short, shadowy, twisty-turny streets and alleyways, often with a table or two blocking part of the path. There’s no overabundance of streetlights (or street signs) in Montefalco, adding to the feeling of strolling through not just an old town but the past itself.

In the course of our days around Montefalco, we visited the wineries of Antonelli, Castelbuono, Perticaia and Arnaldo Caprai, each making wines as unique as its family and its history. Yet considering where we were staying, we retain a certain special fondness for Scacciadiavoli – the Pambuffetti family’s place with the name from ancient exorcisms meaning “chase away the devils.” If Montefalco has been able to chase away the tannins, we believe anything is possible.

TAGLIATELLE MONTEFALCO

Like the red wines made with the local sagrantino grape, pastas served and devoured in the lovely medieval town of Montefalco are deceptively simple. They require relatively few ingredients, and nothing that can’t be procured almost anywhere. The trick, at least in Montefalco, is using only the freshest, most seasonal and most local ingredients. A full half of the six listed to make this recipe include the word “fresh.”

1/4 cup good quality extra virgin olive oil.

2 cloves garlic, smashed

1 1/4 pounds fresh cherry or small San Marzano tomatoes, halved lengthwise

1 pound fresh wide pasta noodles, such as tagliatelle

Fresh basil sprigs, for garnish

Salt and pepper to taste

Place a medium sized skillet over medium heat.  When the skillet is hot, add the oil.  When the oil is warm add the garlic cloves and a few pinches of salt.  Cook for 3-4 minutes until the garlic is fragrant but not browned.  Add the tomatoes to the garlic and oil and cook, stirring occasionally until the tomatoes begin to break down.  Season with salt and pepper.  Continue to cook until the tomatoes have released all of their liquid and softened.  Taste and adjust seasoning.  Keep warm on low heat until ready to serve. 

Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to a rolling boil.  Add the fresh pasta and cook for 3-4 minutes or until al dente.  Drain the pasta and set aside. To serve, divide the pasta evenly between 4-6 plates.  Place a large spoonful of sauce in the middle of each mound of pasta.  Garnish each with a few sprigs of basil.  Serve immediately, with sagrantino from Montefalco. 

Serves 4-6