Bellafonte Montefalco Sagrantino ‘Collenottolo’

Bellafonte Montefalco Sagrantino ‘Collenottolo’ – seventy-five centilitres of special occasions; a hallmark celebration. The estate’s finest Sagrantino grapes are selected for this cuveé and treated with unadulterated tenderness. The grapes are pressed whole-bunch and fermented with native yeasts before undergoing a 36-month maturation in Slavonian oak. Finally, the wine rests in bottle for two years before being released. An intoxicating nose entices with layers of perfume. Lavender and star anise peek out coyly from behind a curtain of black and red berries. Subsequently a broad and precise palette impresses an inevitably dazzled smile on one’s face, hints of balsamic and cherry lingering. A suave and sumptuous wine.

Tenuta Bellafonte is an 11 hectare vineyard, roughly between 260 and 320 metres above sea-level. Nestled in the heart of Umbria, bordering the whistle-stop Torre del Colle, it has south-eastern exposure and maintains a mixture of clay, marl and rocky soils. Peter Heilbron and wife Sabina purchased the 40 hectare property (the remaining land houses olive trees and orchards) in 2007 and spent three years constructing the winery. It is energy independent; solar panels are used for electricity and heat and hot water are generated by burning vine cuttings in a biomass boiler. Heilbron treats the vines with seaweed and plant extracts; chemical fertilisers, insecticides and herbicides are not permitted. In any case, they started as they meant to go on, establishing early on  a stalwart ecological philosophy. However, they have not been granted certification due to utilising a sustainable fungicide during the rainy seasons.

Bellafonte Montefalco Sagrantino ‘Collenottolo’ – a showcase of tenacity; each aroma is in complete harmony and they generously loiter. In any case, this is a developmental wine; time has enabled it to forge that tertiary state but it has maintained that fresh generosity.