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Let’s Explore Montefalco in the Summer
August brings our Italian Food Wine and Travel writers to a virtual visit to Umbria. Take a look further down in this post for links to all our posts. The town of Montefalco is best known for Sagrantino but a big, bold, tannic red wine is a difficult play in the summer. Trebbiano Spoletino isn’t exactly new, but it has been gaining notice in recent years as a native white grape capable of making an ageable wine.

Trebbiano Spoletino
Trebbiano Spoletino is different from other Trebbiano varieties with abundant aromatics and an ability to retain acidity throughout ripening. Traditionally, Trebbiano Spoletino was trained in the alberate system, growing the vines between trees! This training system actually fits a grapevine’s natural growth method, using a tree for structure as it seeks sunlight. First recognized in the 1800’s, Trebbiano Spoletino was nearly lost until it was saved by Cantina Novelli in the early 2000’s. Since then, it has won great support as a premium, ageable white wine from Umbria, especially Montefalco. It is flexible in the winery, showing well as both a traditional white wine as well as a skin macerated “orange” wine.

Antonelli San Marco
Antonelli San Marco was established in 1883 with the acquisition of a historic estate owned by the bishop of Spoleto. The estate includes 190 ha (hectares, about 460 acres) of land with 13 ha of olive groves and 60 ha of vineyards. They only grow indigenous varieties: Grechetto and Trebbiano Spoletino for whites, Sangiovese and Sagrantino for reds. The entire vineyard was converted to organic viticulture in 2009. Antonelli welcomes visitors with a variety of experiences. If you’re considering a trip to Italy, include Montefalco and Antonelli in your plans!

Disclosure: None needed. I purchased the wine locally.

Antonelli San Marco “Vigna Tonda” Trebbiano Spoletino, Spoleto DOC 2021 ($34 locally) 13% abv
For this premium white wine, Antonelli grows the Vigna Tonda vines in the traditional method, between trees. In the winery, the grapes are spontaneously fermented by native yeast without temperature control. Fermentation takes place in ceramic vats in long contact with the grape skins. After the long maceration, the wine in pressed off the skins with further aging in amphora.
Eye: Deep gold
Nose: Medium aromas of dried apricots, peach, tangerine zest, sage.
Mouth: Dry, medium acidity, light but present tannins, medium plus body with a silky texture, medium alcohol, medium plus intensity flavors, medium finish. Flavors follow the aromas.
Observations: I found this wine to very enjoyable on its own as well as a nice companion at the dinner table. This would be an excellent orange wine for someone who is interested to try skin-fermented wines; it has the body and texture of a red wine with aromas and flavors unique to skin-fermented white wine.

Trebbiano Spoletino at the Dinner Table – Jamaican Jerk Chicken
This was my first try with Jamaican Jerk Chicken, a request I had from my son and his family visiting from France. We had this meal on a summer vacation at a rental cabin, an unknown kitchen is always a risk, so I brought the spices and peppers with us from home. I wasn’t sure how hot the jerk chicken would be, though I thought the grill might moderate the habanero heat. As it turns out, I was right and the wine was very nice with the entire meal.

Explore Umbria with the Italian Food, Wine and Travel Writers
Take a look below at the discoveries made by my fellow Italian Food Wine and Travel Writers:
• Susannah at Avinnare shares “Discovering Spectacular Wines in the Green Heart of Italy – Montefalco in Umbria“
• Camilla at Culinary Cam shares “Have Wine. Will Travel. Umbrian Wines on a Summer Road Trip“
• Wendy at A Day in the Life on the Farm shares “A Culinary Visit to Umbria before my Physical Visit to Umbria“
• Jeff at Food Wine Click! shares “Versatile Trebbiano Spoletino; a New Star from Umbria“
• Terri at Our Good Life shares “Family Dinner and Montefalco Rosso“

Other Montefalco resources
Below are links to a couple Montefalco posts of mine from 2019
• My visit to Anteprima Sagrantino in 2019
• Explore the Wines of Montefalco