Italy · Montefalco & Spoleto

Tenuta Alzatura

The Cecchi family's first move outside Tuscany: a 30-hectare Sagrantino estate in Montefalco, farming three named vineyard sites organically since 1998.

The producer

Tenuta Alzatura belongs to the Cecchi family group, a Tuscan wine family that crossed into Umbria for the first time in 1998 to pursue Sagrantino, the thick-skinned red grape that defines Montefalco DOCG and grows almost nowhere else. The estate covers 30 hectares of stony clay outside the hilltop town of Montefalco in Perugia province, organised from the beginning across three named vineyard parcels: Monterone, San Marco, and Alzatura. Organic methods govern both vineyard and cellar work.

Sagrantino is the reason the estate exists. It carries one of the highest polyphenol loads of any red grape, producing wines with deep colour, dense tannin, and substantial extraction. At Alzatura, balancing that weight with freshness is central to every decision in vineyard and cellar. The range runs from the flagship Montefalco Sagrantino DOCG through Montefalco Rosso DOC to two whites, both made from Trebbiano Spoletino, a variety native to the Spoleto valley that rarely appears on labels outside central Umbria.

Known for

Montefalco Sagrantino DOCG; Aria di Casa Trebbiano Spoletino white

Notable facts

The story

The Cecchis Cross the Border

At the end of the 1990s, the Cecchi family had spent its entire wine history inside Tuscany. What moved them out was Sagrantino: the thick-skinned red grape that defines Montefalco DOCG and grows almost nowhere else. In 1998, they founded Tenuta Alzatura on 30 hectares of stony clay in the hills outside Montefalco, and from the start they organised the estate not around a single consolidated parcel but across three named vineyard areas: Monterone, San Marco, and Alzatura. For a family that had never farmed the grape before, in a region they had never worked, the founding choice was already unusual. Sagrantino brought them polyphenol weight at a scale Sangiovese never reaches, and they went into the soils looking for the freshness to carry it.

From the atlas

Tenuta Alzatura

At A Glance

AppellationMontefalco DOCG / DOC, Perugia, Umbria
GrapesSagrantino, Sangiovese, Trebbiano Spoletino
Estate size30 hectares
Founded1998
FarmingOrganic
Range4 wines

The Producer

Tenuta Alzatura is the Cecchi family's Umbrian estate, founded in 1998 on 30 hectares of stony clay outside the hilltop town of Montefalco in the province of Perugia. The Cecchi family built its wine business in Tuscany and had never farmed beyond that region until Sagrantino drew them across the border. They built the estate around three separate named vineyard parcels within the Montefalco appellation: Monterone, San Marco, and Alzatura. Four wines come from those parcels, covering the appellation's two red classifications and two whites from the local Trebbiano Spoletino grape.

Sagrantino is the anchor. It is a thick-skinned, intensely coloured variety with one of the highest recorded polyphenol levels of any red grape, producing wines with substantial extraction and firm, grippy tannin. At Alzatura, the approach to the grape centres on finding enough freshness in the soil and farming to keep that weight in balance. Organic methods govern both vineyard and cellar work.

Place

Montefalco is a walled hilltop town in central Umbria, roughly midway between Assisi and Spoleto. The Montefalco appellation covers red and white wines from the surrounding hills, but the name carries most weight on the label of its highest-classification red: Montefalco Sagrantino DOCG, a denomination reserved for wines made entirely from Sagrantino grown within the appellation boundary. Below it sits Montefalco Rosso DOC, a Sangiovese-led blend that includes a proportion of Sagrantino. The two white wines carry Montefalco DOC Bianco.

The hill position feeds cooler air into the vineyards, and that cooling effect matters for a grape that can otherwise tip from dark-fruited and firm into something extracted and dry. The clay and stone soils hold moisture through summer without waterlogging the roots, giving the vines consistent access to water that supports freshness rather than heat-stressed ripeness.

Soil And Site

The three vineyard parcels sit at different points within the Montefalco appellation, each with its own character. The shared soil type across the estate is clay with sand and pockets of limestone, with a notably stony surface texture. When the estate was being planted, the Cecchi family paid close attention to that stony clay composition and selected Sagrantino clones matched to the specific combination of soil type and local climate. Clone selection in Sagrantino is not standard practice at every Montefalco estate, and the choice reflects a deliberate attempt to match variety to site from the beginning rather than planting what was most available.

Story

The Cecchi family had spent the whole of its wine history in Tuscany before the late 1990s. Sagrantino changed that. The grape grows almost nowhere outside Montefalco, and the denomination had been drawing attention as one of Italy's most individual red wine territories. At the end of the 1990s, the family moved beyond its home region for the first time, acquiring 30 hectares in Montefalco and founding Tenuta Alzatura in 1998.

The founding decision had two unusual features. The family was new to Sagrantino entirely, a grape with polyphenol levels no Tuscan variety approaches. And they organised the estate not around a single consolidated parcel but across three named vineyard areas from the beginning. That three-site arrangement shaped both the farming logic and the range: different soils and exposures feeding one DOCG, one DOC red, and two whites from a local grape the broader wine market barely knew.

Organic farming followed as a commitment that governs both vineyard and cellar work across all three sites.

Vineyards And Cellar

The three vineyard parcels, Monterone, San Marco, and Alzatura, all lie within the Montefalco appellation. The stony clay soils across the estate were the basis for the clone selection work carried out during establishment: matching Sagrantino rootstocks and clones to the specific texture and water-holding behaviour of clay with limestone pockets. Organic agricultural and winemaking methods apply across the estate, though the certifying body has not been identified in available material.

Cellar process for the red wines has not been confirmed in detail for current vintages. The Montefalco Rosso DOC requires at least 60 percent Sangiovese in the blend, with Sagrantino filling part of the remainder. Aria di Casa, the oak-aged white, received 10 months in barriques followed by bottle ageing in a documented 2019 programme. Whether that schedule applies to more recent vintages is not confirmed. Cortili, the other white, is aged in stainless steel.

Wines

The four wines divide cleanly by grape and appellation tier.

Montefalco Sagrantino DOCG is the top red and the estate's most demanding bottle. One hundred percent Sagrantino, it carries the full weight of the variety: deep colour, firm tannin from the high polyphenol load, and substantial extraction that needs time to open. It is the appellation's highest classification and the reason the estate exists.

Montefalco Rosso DOC is the more accessible red. Sangiovese leads the blend, with Sagrantino contributing colour and grip. Lighter in body than the DOCG, earlier drinking, and less concentrated, it is the range entry for the estate's red wines.

Cortili Montefalco DOC Bianco is 100 percent Trebbiano Spoletino, fermented and aged in stainless steel. Fresher and more direct than the oak-aged white, it shows the grape's aromatic character and medium-full body without additional weight from wood.

Aria di Casa Montefalco DOC Bianco is also 100 percent Trebbiano Spoletino but aged in oak, giving it additional texture and a toasted nut note layered over the variety's natural floral character. It is the more complex of the two whites and the bottle that most distinguishes the estate from a typical Sagrantino producer.

In The Glass

The Montefalco Sagrantino opens dark: blackberry, dried fig, and a medicinal herb note that is particular to the variety. In the mouth, the tannin is immediate and dense, gripping the gums and mid-palate. Freshness in the acidity keeps the wine from feeling flat despite the extraction, and that interplay between polyphenol weight and acid line is where the estate's farming decisions are most legible. The wine finishes long and firm. It needs years.

Montefalco Rosso is darker-fruited than a straight Sangiovese, with Sagrantino adding colour and a tannin edge to the softer Sangiovese frame. It drinks sooner and sits more easily with food.

Aria di Casa rises with wildflower and a white peach note, fuller on the palate than most Italian whites at this price point. The oak ageing adds a toasted nut quality and rounds the texture without covering the grape's natural aromatic lift. Cortili is leaner and more citrus-led, the steel ageing preserving brightness over weight.

A Bottle To Understand It

Start with Aria di Casa. It is 100 percent Trebbiano Spoletino, a white variety native to the Spoleto valley that rarely appears on labels outside central Umbria, and it arrives from a producer built around Sagrantino. That combination, an unusual local white made with some care and oak ageing at a Sagrantino estate, is the most direct route into what Alzatura is actually doing beyond the obvious flagship. In the glass: wildflower aromatics, a toasted nut note from oak contact, and a fuller body than the grape's relative obscurity might suggest. It is not a heavyweight, but it has enough texture to take food. Once you have it, the Sagrantino makes more sense as the other end of the range.

Anecdote

At the end of the 1990s, the Cecchi family had spent its entire wine history inside Tuscany. What moved them out was Sagrantino: the thick-skinned red grape that defines Montefalco DOCG and grows almost nowhere else. In 1998, they founded Tenuta Alzatura on 30 hectares of stony clay in the hills outside Montefalco, and from the start they organised the estate not around a single consolidated parcel but across three named vineyard areas: Monterone, San Marco, and Alzatura. For a family that had never farmed the grape before, in a region they had never worked, the founding choice was already unusual. Sagrantino brought them polyphenol weight at a scale Sangiovese never reaches, and they went into the soils looking for the freshness to carry it.

Final Word

Tenuta Alzatura is a Tuscan family's serious read of an Umbrian denomination. The estate was built around Sagrantino, organised across three vineyard sites, and farmed organically from early on. The Sagrantino DOCG is the flag, but Aria di Casa, the oak-aged Trebbiano Spoletino white, is the more surprising bottle and a useful first step into what the estate produces.

Sources

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