The “bocale” is a unit of measurement for approximately 2 litres, which becomes the family nickname and then the winery’s brand, synonymous with quality. Great success in exports and sustainability: a path of continuous growth, which has lasted for twenty years. Trebbiano Spoletino and small vertical of Sagrantino.
The story
It’s written as Bocale and reads as Valentini family. And it is Valentino Valentini, the company’s front-man, who tells us the story that starts from the early 1900s.
In the mid-1920s, great-grandfather Filippo Valentini, making an exchange of land, moved from Gualdo Cattaneo to Montefalco with their 5 young children: Giuseppe, Valentino, Guido, Caterino and Angelica. The company raises farmyard livestock, cattle and Chianina, grows cereals, and produces fruit, oil and of course wine.
Humble people and tireless workers, their home is a farmhouse with an oil mill and cellar. During the war, since their variety of production represents an excellent source of supply, first a German commando camped, then an allied commando.
After the war, the company was divided between the 5 brothers, each of them kept a part, some the orchard, some the oil mill, some the animals. Giuseppe and his wife Teresa Ugolini, Valentino’s grandparents, were left with the vineyard.
In the same years there was also the great migration in search of work, Montefalco lost 3500 inhabitants out of 8000, including Teresa, who left with her daughters and her 14 year old son Ennio, in search of work in Switzerland. Here Ennio learns the trade and works as a camera tester, meets Luciana and his first son Valentino is born. Precisely for him, they choose to leave Switzerland and return to Italy to let him study.
After high school, Valentino enrolled in the faculty of political science, moved to Rome because he was elected to the national secretariat of the party’s youth organization, and returned home for civil service without finishing his studies. With a lot of energy and desire to do, he joined the municipality at a very young age, as councilor for economic development, with responsibility for the City of Wine and remained there for two terms as Mayor.
It is precisely this experience that led him to understand what potential Sagrantino had, now almost disappeared from the vineyards in favor of the more productive and profitable vines, and the historical, cultural and artistic importance of Montefalco.
In 2002 he reopened his grandfather’s farm together with his father and brother Antonello, no longer 50 hectares, but just 2.5. A leap into the void for Valentino who knows very little about agriculture and oenology. But he is tenacious, who does not stop and does not give up: he studies, informs himself and trains himself with care and precision, a typical trait of his character.
The cellar
The first vineyards are Sagrantino, Sangiovese, Merlot and Colorino. In 2015 Valentino rented a 30-year-old Trebbiano Spoletino vineyard and part of the new planting. Little by little, over the years, he reacquired part of his grandfather’s land, up to the current 10 hectares, of which 6 are vineyards and part is an olive grove.
Nothing is left to chance, not even the name of the farm chosen in honor of the grandfather and the family nicknamed “Bocale” for the custom they had of selling wine in bulk using a 2-liter jug as a unit of measurement, in dialect “bocale”
The company is located in the Madonna della Stella area, a territory dotted with “pinturette” and crossroads where the Madonna appeared and where the church dedicated to her was built in 1860. A very important place of worship for the family, where the women went to mass every morning, as a sign of great devotion.
In 2007 he participated in the first Vinitaly presenting only the Montefalco Rosso 2005, with just 1600 bottles from the first harvest. In 2008 he finally presented his Motefalco Docg 2005. 2016 was the year in which he proposed the first Trebbiano Spoletino. Obviously there is no shortage of the Montefalco Sagrantino Passito Docg version.
The latest addition to the family in 2015 is the Riserva Ennio dedicated to his father, vinified in open 500-litre tonneaus, with daily punching done by hand by Ennio himself.
Courageously, or as he would say “head down and pedal”, and with excellent gab I might add, he made his way among the greats of Sagrantino, he conquered a large part of the world market and in fact 70% of the production goes towards distant horizons .
The philosophy of the winery, since from the beginning, has been that of sustainability, no weeding, very few treatments in the vineyard and the same in the cellar, “nothing is taken away and nothing is added that is not already there in nature”. It has obtained organic and vegan certification and, always with a view to sustainability, it is energy independent thanks to the new photovoltaic system.
The tasting
Spoleto Trebbiano Spoletino Doc 2022.
Obtained exclusively from grapes of the native Trebbiano Spoletino vine, a wine with great personality and evolutionary potential. After cold skin maceration for 12-18 hours and subsequent cold static clarification, the fermentation is spontaneous with natural yeasts at a temperature of 18 degrees for a few weeks. This is followed by refinement on the yeasts for a few months. Refine in steel.
Straw yellow with greenish reflections. On the nose you can perceive citrus notes, then white melon, a spring floral bouquet, wild herbs, wild fennel. On the palate it appears sincere, welcoming and pleasant, with a good structure, a perfect synthesis of the character of the Valentini family. The pleasantness and persistence of this wine invite you to take a second sip with respect and joy.
A gentle, jovial wine, perfect for an aperitif, but which can also accompany you at the table while you enjoy a good first course, or why not, a good soup on winter days, its structure allows it to also enhance a second course based on fish or white meat with aromatic herbs and sautéed vegetables. Perfect with truffle egg stracciatella.
Montefalco Rosso Doc 2020.
Blend: 70% Sangiovese, 15% Sagrantino, 10% Merlot and 5% Colorino. Manual harvest between the third ten days of September and the first ten days of October. Fermentation with spontaneous yeasts, no filtration or stabilization. It refines in large barrels and barriques for 12 months, finally another six months in the bottle.
Ruby red with violet reflections. Blackberries, currants, then violets and Mediterranean scrub, with a finish of sweet spices and vanilla. In the mouth the structure is well balanced. Silky tannins and good persistence make it pleasant and elegant.
Montefalco Sagrantino Docg 2019 (preview).
The ruby red color with brilliant purple hues says a lot about its freshness. Notes of red fruit, floral, Mediterranean accents, spiciness, coffee powder. Very distinct aromas ready to blend into a complex bouquet as time passes. The sip is material with well-present tannins and good freshness that balance the important structure well.
Montefalco Sagrantino Docg 2018.
100% Sagrantino, manual grape harvest in the third ten days of October. Maceration for at least 40 days exclusively with natural ferments. Wine not subjected to any type of stabilization and filtration. Refines in oak barrels for 24 months and in bottle for 12 months.
2018 was a happy year, which gave results of great elegance. The unmistakable intense ruby red color with light violet reflections anticipates the aromas of ripe red fruit, sour cherries, plums, a light hint of cinnamon and cloves, spicy and sweet at the same time, then the herbs of the Mediterranean scrub can be felt in the morning when the sun with its first rays dries the dew and inebriates us with the fresh balsamicness of sweet mint, sage and rosemary. With a still glass you can also perceive the aromas of sunny spring, with light herbaceous breaths of flowering meadow, violet, and reawakening forest. On the sip, the tannins are highlighted, copious, but not scratchy. The softness and alcohol content are dampened by a balanced freshness. He demonstrates all his youth, the impetuosity and boldness of someone who already knows that the years will make the difference. To appreciate it better we pair it with grilled red meat, whose bitter notes from the grilling and the soft sweetness of the almost raw pulp go well with the young exuberant vitality of the wine. Or also: rack of lamb with breading of wild aromatic herbs and currant reduction.
Montefalco Sagrantino Docg 2013.
When it was released on the market it was already promising, now it presents an intense ruby color, losing the violet reflections which turn towards darker tones. Of great organoleptic contribution, the nose is immediately inebriated with the typical hints of blackberries, currants and plums, with the sweet notes of ripe fruit and the more intense Mediterranean ones of the summer days, the hot ones, when the cicadas sing, and by closing your eyes you can almost hear their chirping, the spiciness becomes sweeter with a hint of vanilla and licorice and the balsamicness still present with juniper berries. The entry into the mouth brings with it the impetuosity of a ready wine, but not yet completely mature, the tannins smoothed by time, the elegance and refinement acquired over the years blend well with the sweetness and minerality, a reflection of the land that holds the roots of the vine, still strong, vigorous, strong, tenacious and persistent, explains himself well, communicating that for him the road is still long, that he is there and will be there for a long time to come, that he will keep us company table while we enjoy a nice platter of mature cheeses and chat happily.
Montefalco Sagrantino Docg 2008.
Once again a vintage rated 5 stars by the Consorzio dei Vini di Montefalco. The intense and lively ruby of the 2018 vintage now turns towards garnet.
The nose is complex and takes us to wait before giving us all its evolving notes, the cooked fruit, vanilla and liquorice intensify and is accompanied by withered violet, cocoa peeks out. As time goes by it opens up more and more and the tobacco notes timidly come out with a hint of coffee, without ever losing the balsamicness. You could spend hours with your nose in the glass hunting for all the olfactory nuances that slowly emerge with oxygenation. Warm and enveloping, it fills your palate with the youthful impetuosity tamed by time without, however, losing strength and tenacity but with the delicacy and softness that only time can teach, with that slightly mocking smile of someone who, now mature, he is sure of himself, he knows that calm is needed, that you need to take your time, without rushing.
The 2008 is no longer just a wine to pair with the table, but is more of a companion on winter evenings while sitting comfortably in front of the fireplace, you calmly reflect on the past time, you don’t think about the future but about the present.
The evolution of the three vintages can be clearly perceived with 5 year intervals between one and the other, confirming the great evolutionary capacity of this wine, a truly out of class wine.
Montefalco Sagrantino Ennio Docg 2019.
100% Sagrantino, the grapes are harvested by hand in the third ten days of October in the highest vineyard plot. The vinification and maceration take place in open wooden containers with daily manual punching; the fermentation is carried out exclusively with ferments naturally present on the grapes. It ages for 24 months in oak barrels and 24 months in the bottle.
Visually it maintains its intense ruby red color with light violet reflections. Scent of blackberries, currants, Mediterranean scrub, with spicy notes, is more decisive and marked, the floral is less intense, but maintains the fragrance of medicinal herbs. Vanilla gives way to licorice and amaretto. The sip reveals the great structure of this wine, with dense and well-smoothed tannins, the portrait of that man who with wisdom, knowledge, experience, dedication goes to the cellar every day to do the punching down by hand, takes care of the must as if it were a son, caresses him, observes him, teaches him patience, kindness, respect and great love for his land.
The long and persistent finish continues to envelop the palate with humility, great elegance, balance and refinement, just like Ennio.