This beautiful region surrounded by mountains in the heart of Italy is the perfect place to indulge .

For oenophiles, gastronomes and lovers of life there are few places better .

An easy direct Ryan Air flight from London delivers you to Perugia ,

a majestic medieval hilltop City with spectacular sweeping views of Umbria.        

Luckily for me my great friend and trained Chef Simon

is spending a year on sabbatical and living in the heart of the old town.

He introduced me to the culinary delights of the region . We foraged along the banks of the Lago Trasimeno collecting the seasonal wild asparagus and with the local truffle Bianchetto made a Wonderful frittata .

Other highlights were his lamb and Rosemary, Bistecca alla fiorentina and Umbrian sausages all grilled on the open fire

and the best roast potatoes you could wishes for .

Highly recommended is restaurant Coccorone in the timeless hilltop medieval town of Montefalco .

Their paparadelle Al Sagrantino is unforgettable

followed by the Bistecca alla fiorentina served with a choice of eight types of salt !

Kitted out with the finest Bianchi hybrid bikes from Testi we set of for the hills and after a relatively flat 30 km arrived at the Arnaldo Caprai winery , world famous for putting Sagrantino wines on the modern map with innovative and exciting techniques and passion culminating in its very own DOCG Montefalco Di Sagrantino

Arnaldo Caprai

We entered the stylish modern tasting room .
They work with university in Perugia to find best methods of viticulture, a tour of  the

vineyards showed single and double cordon Guyot and other pruning mainly on clay soil .
The Sangiovese is matured in old Slavonian barrels , new and used French oak for Sagrantino

Wines tasted with Marco Caprai

Grecante grechetto 2015

peach, floral, hawthorn med acid med length a good starter .

Montefalco Rossi this is the bulk of production an Umbrian take on Chianti 70 sangiovese 15 sagrantino fresh red cherry, herbs med + tannins acid med length

Montefalco Rosso reserva tannin high and herbal liquorice garnet 2010

Collepiano 2010 100% sagrantino new oak ,Tannin herbal sl vegetal developing nicely .

Montefalco Sagrantino 25 2011 representing their finest selection .
2011 lovely , new oak ,vanilla chocolate coffee with spice herbs .A lovely structure balance high tannin but well integrated. Well made with lots of life in the bottle .

Montefalco Sagrantino Passito.
The classic original  style of Sagrantino , dried grapes creating a wonderfully rich long desert wine full of aromas of figs prunes dates raisins , a fitting finale to any dinner .

After a short climb to Montefalco and lunch we dropped South West towards the unfortunately named Bastardo via

Cantina Novelli
Wines tasted
Trebbiano spoletino  In a classically Italian confusing way this is no relation to the Trebbiano grape !
aromatic floral gold oily texture aged on lees really a bargain for the price

Sangiovese had hints of red cherry ,the Rosso more Earthy with red fruits
Sagrantino 2012 more complex with liquorice herbal high tannin long structure good long herbaceous nature sweetness .

The highlight of which we took a magnum was their 2007 Sagrantino which shows how well this can do with a few years of ageing to soften its high tannins.

We cycled back with the sun setting through the most glorious scenery .

I’m already dreaming of my next Umbrian Adventure !

Arnaldo Caprai wines are available in the UK
A recent decanter review highly rated these wines

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