Montemelino Malpasso Vino Rosso

About Montemelino Malpasso Vino Rosso

Montemelino Malpasso Vino Rosso is a liter bottle of 100% Sangiovese. Wild yeast fermentation and aged in cement tanks for a year before bottling. Minimal added sulfur and no filtering or fining. Takes crowd-pleasing to arena-level status.

About Montemelino

Overlooking Lake Trasimeno, on the northern cusp of Umbria, lies the Cantarelli family farm of Montemelino. In 1961 Margret Etten Cantarelli made her first vintage of wine, inspired by her passion for the land and a drive to create a fully functioning, independent farm and winery. Living in Umbria as a German ex-pat for much of her adult life, she’d found her heart in Umbria and a desire to be connected to its land … thus was borne, Montemelino.

With her husband Guido by her side, Margret worked the land and made the wines for over 50 years, having only recently passed the torch to her daughter Sabina to carry the farm into the next generation. Today the farm has 8 hectares of vineyards, all working organically, as they have been since Margret began. They grow the native grapes of the tiny Colli del Trasimeno DOC, which include Grechetto, Malvasia, and Trebbiano for the white wines and Sangiovese, Ciliegiolo, and Gamay del Trasimeno (aka Grenache) for the red wines.

The alluvial soils, mixed with clay and limestone, surround the lake, making for elegant bright, and fresh wines and offering a unique sense of place. The misnamed Gamay del Trasimeno, which is technically Grenache (likely of Spanish origin in the mid-1600s), adds breadth to the local red wines and is unique to this corner of Umbria.

Also on the property are sprawling olive groves holding a combination of the traditional central Italian / Tuscan cultivars (Frantoio, Moraiolo, Leccino) and the local Dolce Agogia, native to this tiny regional sub-zone. Their olive oil, like their wines, is excellent, and we are always excited when the new vintage arrives.