2005 Montefalco Rosso, 'Sololoro', Az. Agr. Fontecolle, Umbria

The purist St James’s Street wine merchant Berry Bros & Rudd is not where you would expect to find a first- class list of Italians, but I loved the first vintage of this sangiovese grape-based red, topped up with tannic sagrantino and even given a Gallic boost of one quarter’s worth of merlot and cabernet sauvignon. The end blend is a surprisingly seductive and swiggable, yet still savage, herb, violet and blueberry-stashed red.
(Jane MacQuitty -Top summer wines for less than £25- The Times - 06-Jun-2009)

'Sololoro' acknowledges the team effort required to put this inaugural wine together; ostensibly the result of Duccio Pompili's meticulous work among the vines and Tiziano Vistalli's guiding hand as the consultant enologist, this exciting debut of Sangiovese (60%), Sagrantino (15%), Merlot/Cabernet Sauvignon (25%) combines a fine, fresh, pretty structure with a juicy underbelly of soft summer fruit, aged for 12 months in used french barriques.


This wine was bottled without being filtered so as to capture its rich personality; as result though the wine may naturally throw a deposit. Only 540 cases were made. The perfect luncheon wine to accompany meaty pasta dishes.(David Berry Green - BBR Buyer)

This Sangiovese-based wine (with some Sagrantino and Cabernet/Merlot) shows clean and vibrant red cherry fruit. A very attractive structure with lots of pretty, red summer fruit characters with soft tannins.
(Decanter.com, Ten Best Wines from Berry Bros., June 09)