RED

The last wine of the evening was the best, a 2010 Paolo Bea San Valentino Umbria Rosso.  This was my first experience with this wine, a blend of sangiovese, montepulciano and sagrantino.  This was a big wine in every way imaginable.  The first sip was full bodied and very tannic with dark cherry fruit and some tart highlights.  The tannin kept on giving but the wine was very drinkable.  Swirling helped, but the wine needed time. 

The sagrantino grape is mostly found only in Umbia.  One producer, Marco Caprai,  has said, 

"Sagrantino is exceptionally rich in the polyphenols that give a wine color, and is considerably more tannic than sangiovese....  This is a wine with incredible aging potential, but the tannins are sweet rather than sharp, which makes it drinkable when young."   -  Bastianich and Lynch - Vino Italiano, The Regional Wines of Italy.

 Quite a delicious mouthful.  15% alcohol and $36