Antonelli, April 2022 or The World of Filippo Antonelli

Chapter Two: Antonelli San Marco (Monfefalco, Umbria)

Incidentally, it is the season for stalking the wild asparagus in Italy. On the path to Antonelli San Marco dozens of foragers appear from drainage ditches and scrubby hillsides with baskets full of this springtime delight. Tables are set up on roadsides, offering for sale a treat to gourmands too lazy or inept (like me) to find their own tender stalks.  

The weather is changing. Filippo Antonelli’s colleague Marco Baldovin greets me at the door of their tasting room with a warning that snow is on the horizon. My time in Lazio was dry, warm, and bright. On the edge of April, it’s ominous to feel a cold wind and dark skies bearing down on northern Umbria. 

It does really help with tasting the wines, though. I’d visited Antonelli once before, in July. The Trebbiano Spoletino showed brilliantly. Even inside an air conditioned office, the built-to-last Sagrantino struggled. Or, I struggled with it.

The Antonelli family bought the farm from the Italian government in 1881. It used to be owned by the vatican. The estate has been certified organic since 2009. Marco says the olive oil they make has always been organically produced. He’s my guide today because he’s a competent and patient source of information regarding the sprawling endeavor. Also because Filippo Antonelli’s daughter is graduating from university in Torino, so the boss is away.

Their property is criss-crossed by walking paths. I’d anticipated using these roads to shake off car fatigue. Driving wind and ice changed my plans. Instead, Marco and I inspected their large and growing cellar. They built the current winery building 20 years ago. It is three levels, and the fruit moves through the stages of fermentation and aging via gravity. Today Antonelli houses over a million bottles underground. The property is large, but more importantly, many wines at this address wait 5+ years to be released. This aging, often in large oak barrel, is essential to reveal the appeal of Sagrantino. Sagrantino is the second most tannic grape in the world.

Antonelli make 12 wines. Buckle up palate, because we’re about to taste them all! Ten of the 12 are fermented in stainless steel. The winery does spontaneous natural fermentations and uses pied a cuvee to culture ambient yeasts from their environment. Most of the aging of the reds takes place in Stockinger (pricey) Austrian barrels, vessels that (on average) are 15 years old. The estate is also experimenting with ceramic small amphora, in a variety of shapes.

Marco says the property could be certified vegan. They use no animal products in the making of the wines. But to be certified vegan requires a large payment to the certification organisation, and the winery isn’t sure the expense is worth it. I don’t care about the logo on the label, but it’s good to know they are vegan. 

We start our tasting with the sparkling Trebbiano Spoletino. Fresh lemon aromas and white flowers are in the foreground, followed by a faint spice. When Antonelli started farming Trebbiano Spoletino there were four wineries growing the grape. Now there are 39.

The 2020 Antonelli Trebium Trebbiano Spoletino (available in NC) spends six months in wood barrel. It has a lovely mellow texture, and a chalky finish. I’m not ashamed to say I took a magnum of this wine when I left the winery, to serve as inspiration for my travels. 

The 2019 Amphora aged Trebbiano Spoletino Anteprima Tondo is tannic, with an amber color. The wine doesn’t take it too far, if you know what I mean. It’s an orange wine that plays nice. 

The 2021 Grechetto is aged solely in stainless steel. It’s clean and bright, fun and varietally correct. I’ve been thinking for a year or so that we should import this wine, and tasting it once more confirms this belief. 

The 2020 Baiocco Sangiovese Umbria is showing pretty well on this visit. It’s also aged solely in steel. Maybe it’s a tad anonymous, but the fruit is clean and articulate, and there are zero rough edges. 

The 2019 Montefalco Rosso is 70% Sangiovese, 15% Montepulciano, and 15% Sagrantino. “It’s the wine that pays the wages,” according to Marco. It has nice clarity and balance. Cherry. Fine tannin. The wine is good. Their wages packets are secure. 

The 2018 Montefalco Rosso Riserva is 80% Sangiovese and 20% Sagrantino, aged 18 months in oak. Marco states that the best Sangiovese in the vineyard ends up here, and that the farm only makes this red in optimal vintages. Black cherry aromas dominate, followed by varietally-correct Sangiovese secondary aromas, faint astringency, and some tannin. 

The 2018 Contrario Sagrantino is aged solely in steel (!!) Antonelli considers it their “Langhe Nebbiolo” equivalent. Red cherry wafts from the glass. It smells great, but I can’t get past the hard tannin. I want it to mellow in wood. But what do I know? 

As I need at this stage to refresh my palate with pork fat, let’s discuss Antonelli’s charcuterie. The pigs on the property only eat legumes and cereals. They get to roam around. They are slaughtered at 18 months old, elderly by pork production standards. This way the meat has more complex flavor, and better texture. They are reddish-brown Duroc pigs, an older breed that’s still common on farms in North Carolina. Antonelli’s pork production is small, but it really makes me wish I owned a meat slicer. I’d fill up my luggage. The prosciutto is aged in the mountains nearby for three years. Salt is the only added ingredient. 

The 2016 Sagrantino di Montefalco is more purple in color and flavor. I mean that in a very positive way. Marco thinks it could be the estate’s best vintage yet.

We taste the 2016 Molino di Attone Sagrantino di Montefalco, a single vineyard wine from a site three kilometers from the cellar. The soil in this parcel is richer in minerals. It’s also east-facing. I perceive the wine to be a tad drier. 

The 2016 Chiusa di Pannone Sagrantino di Montefalco has a definite chalky cherry character. This single parcel of Sagrantino is south facing. The textural differences between the two wines is striking. This feels riper. Both are excellent. 

At the end we try a 2008 Chiusa di Pannone Sagrantino di Montefalco. Now this is much more pleasant. Suddenly it all makes sense. In spite of Antonelli’s best efforts, we are drinking these reds far too young. We need to keep them for over a decade, braise something for hours, and sink into a perfect moment of warm, wintry culinary bliss.

Snapped out of my daydream by gale force winds hitting the winery’s large windows, I re-mask, bundle up, and head out in the direction of Montefalco. Marco quips that climate change brought this extreme moment. “It never used to be this cold in April!” The seasons are all mixed up. While challenges mount, it’s reassuring to see a farm being good stewards of the land, and respecting the foods that the earth provides. A small victory for sustainability.