Wine friends, 

In Italian wine circles, Sagrantino is widely understood to be a wine that can be truly great. But even the finest examples usually need many years in the bottle to integrate the grape’s ripe tannins.

Tenuta Bellafonte, meanwhile, makes Sagrantino that’s less tannic and quite approachable when young. At Bellafonte, they pick the grapes relatively early, avoid crushing the seeds, use only cold fermentation, and age the wine only in large Slavonian oak barrels.

W. Blake Gray, one of my favorite wine writers, recently penned an article identifying Tenuta Bellafonte and Cantina Colle Ciocco (which we offered in the spring) as two of the top producers making Sagrantino in a more refined, less rustic style.

Today’s first wine, Bellafonte’s 2015 Montefalco Sagrantino, was specifically cited: “The wine from this tiny three-employee winery is both smooth and elegant.”  

I couldn’t agree more. Bellafonte makes one of the most compelling Sagrantino examples on the market. 

Tenuta Bellafonte - 2015 Montefalco Sagrantino Collenottolo

Tenuta Bellafonte’s 2015 flagship wine is a bold-yet-balanced red wine that will age beautifully for up to 40 years. There are classic notes of cherries, blackberries, currant, balsamic, and oriental spices. The tannins are firm but integrated, yielding a wine that’s both fresh and muscular.

Tenuta Bellafonte - 2012 Montefalco Sagrantino Collenottolo

This 2012 Sagrantino is an aged red wine that’s ready to drink immediately, with tannins that are more evolved and softened, compared to the 2015. It shows hints of blackberry, blueberry jam, and dark spices. On the palate, it’s balanced and complete, with focused fruit singing through the close. This is a wine of structure, poise, and persistence. 

Bonus Wines

Tenuta Bellafonte - 2022 Montefalco Bianco Sperella

Bellafonte’s Sperella Bianco is a fresh everyday white wine that pairs easily with fish, chicken, or pork. At my house, we poured it as an aperitif wine earlier this summer. It goes down almost too easily. (100 percent Trebbiano Spoletino).

Tenuta Bellafonte - 2020 Montefalco Rosso Pomontino

The 2020 Pomontino is a food-friendly red that, given its price, will surprise you with its character and complexity. It shows excellent acidity, supported by light, supple tannins. The finish is long, closing on a pretty citrus note. This wine is 80 percent Sangiovese and 20 percent Sagrantino.

To order, just click one of the blue links above and follow the prompts.

Tenuta Bellafonte’s owner, Peter Heilbron, is a former Nestle marketing executive who fell for Sagrantino while living in Umbria in the late 1990s. He now lives in Milan with his Italian wife and commutes to Umbria for the work week.

Here’s Tenuta Bellafonte on the map of central Italy.

As you can see, our prices for the Pomontino, and Sperella compare favorably to the rest of the market. Meanwhile our prices for the Sagrantino compare VERY favorably! 

Happy Tuesday,

Chris

Receive a $25 credit for every referred member after the purchase of their first bottle.

If you have any questions or feedback, please email us: [email protected]. 

How it works: 

After clicking one of the links above, you’ll be able to request 1-12 bottles. Actually, that’s all you have to do!

About a week later, when we close the offer, you’ll get an email confirming how many bottles we allocated to your account. We will charge you when the wines are allocated.

We’ll do our best to allocate all the bottles you request. When there are more requests than bottles available, we’ll allocate one bottle to all requesting members before allocating a second bottle to anyone. We want as many members as possible to try these wines.

This is the seventh offer of our 2023 fall season. Through the first week of November, we plan to send offers on Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday.

We ship in increments of 12. With 18 offers this season, there should be plenty of chances to get to 12, 24, or 36. If you don’t have an increment of 12 at the end of the fall season offers, we can hold your wines until the next offer season – spring 2023.

Wines offered in the fall will ship in late November-early December for $5 per bottle (if you have an increment of 12.) This is about the same as the price to ship coast-to-coast within the U.S. – but our wines come directly from Italy.

Once your payment method is on file, you can make future requests with just a few clicks from the offer email. If you don’t have a card on file, you can add one during your first order. Your personal financial information is protected by Stripe.

Chris MacLean

Rob Genova

Open Tuesday Wines S.r.l.s.