DOC Red

Arnaldo Caprai Montefalco Rosso DOC

Arnaldo Caprai
Grape
Merlot
Denomination
Montefalco DOC
Region
Umbria
Drink
Now to 2031

Umbria's benchmark everyday red from Sagrantino pioneer Arnaldo Caprai. A blend of 70% Sangiovese, 15% Sagrantino and 15% Merlot, aged 12 months in barrique. Wildflowers, red cherry and nutmeg, dry and fresh with firm, ripe tannins. Serve at 18°C.

Best price
£18.44

2023 · 75cl · checked 27 Oct · Delivery £7.95, min 6 bottles

Vintages 2023 2022

Prices read daily from 4 UK retailers. We earn a commission on some links; it never changes the order.

Where to buy Arnaldo Caprai Montefalco Rosso

£18.44 best price · 4 retailers in stock · checked 27 Oct 2026

Stock is shown where the retailer publishes it, offers are sorted by price, and unavailable offers can’t be clicked.

Great Wines Direct Best price 2023 · 75cl · checked 27 Oct · Delivery £7.95, min 6 bottles
Read from the retailer's page once a day. Confidence is low, so treat it as a guide and confirm at the retailer.
£18.44 £24.59/L
The Great Wine Co. Best price Save 13% 2023 · 75cl · checked 25 Oct · Delivery £8, free on 5 bottles
Read from the retailer's page once a day. Confidence is low, so treat it as a guide and confirm at the retailer.
£20.00 was regular price £23.00 £26.67/L
Vino.com Best price 2023 · 75cl · checked 27 Oct · Delivery usually £16.90, free on 6 bottles Code WINE6R8T: £17 off your first wine order with £180 minimum spend, until 13 Jan 2028
Read from the retailer's page once a day. Confidence is low, so treat it as a guide and confirm at the retailer.
£22.00 £29.33/L
Hedonism Wines Best price 2022 · 75cl · checked 27 Oct · Delivery from £8.95, free over £250
Read from the retailer's page once a day. Confidence is low, so treat it as a guide and confirm at the retailer.
£23.00 £30.67/L

Stock status is read from each retailer’s page once a day and may lag.

Tasting Notes

Inside Arnaldo Caprai's Montefalco Rosso: wildflowers, cherry and nutmeg

Caprai's technical sheet leads with wildflowers, red fruit and a touch of nutmeg over a dry, fresh palate. Twelve months in small oak barrels layer in vanilla, oak and a whisper of tobacco.

Tasted by
ItalianWines editorial
Tasted on
11 June 2026
Source
Drinker consensus · confidence Medium
Typical of Merlot
Body Light / Full
Tannins Smooth / Grippy
Sweetness Dry / Sweet
Acidity Soft / Crisp
Nose

Intense, brilliant ruby in the glass. The producer's own notes lead with wildflowers, red fruit and a touch of nutmeg. The 12 months in small oak barrels layer in vanilla and a whisper of tobacco.

VioletViolet
CherryCherry
PlumPlum
TobaccoTobacco
NutmegNutmeg
OakOak
LiquoriceLiquorice
VanillaVanilla
Palate

Dry and fresh on entry, with Sangiovese acidity framing red cherry and plum. The 15% Sagrantino shows in firm, slightly dusty tannins. The Merlot share and the ageing in small oak barrels soften them. Medium-bodied and savoury rather than plush.

Finish

The close stays dry and gently grippy. It carries nutmeg-tinged spice and a faint oak-and-tobacco note over moderate length.

Overall

This is Umbria's everyday benchmark from the estate that revived Sagrantino. The wine drinks best across its first 6 to 8 years. A well-liked everyday red, with a food-friendly balance and honest value near 18 pounds.

Drink now Best by 2031
Live UK pricing

Buying Arnaldo Caprai Montefalco Rosso in the UK

Two UK retailers list the wine between 18 and 23 pounds, with the 2022 the easier vintage to find in stock. The price reflects its status as Umbria's value benchmark from the estate that revived Sagrantino.

Best price · 75 cl · 2023 £18.44 at Great Wines Direct
Price spread · 75cl · 2023 £18.44 - £22.00 Across 3 UK retailers with 75cl · 2023 in stock
Retailers · 75cl · 2023 3UK 3 in stock
Vintages live 2023 · 2022 Current release: 2023
Per-litre (75cl · 2023 basis) £24.59 Lowest current 75cl · 2023 offer
Last checked 27 Oct 2026 Refreshed once every 24 hours
Other vintages and formats: 1 price line

75cl · 2022: £23.00, 1 UK retailer

Wine fit score

How Montefalco Rosso scores for food, value and cellar

On the Italian Wine Fit dimensions it reads as a high-value, food-first Umbrian red: strong at the table and generous on price near 18 pounds. It is also approachable for newcomers to indigenous grapes like Sagrantino.

Best with food 9.0/10

Sangiovese acidity and moderate Sagrantino tannin make it a versatile match for cured meats, tomato pasta and roast meats.

Best value 8.5/10

At about 18 pounds with 92 to 93 point critic scores, it over-delivers for a DOC red from a benchmark estate.

Best intro to this style 8.0/10

An approachable, fruit-forward way into Sangiovese and Umbria's Sagrantino without the tannic weight of full Sagrantino di Montefalco.

Best everyday bottle 8.0/10

Sub-20-pound, food-friendly and ready on release, it suits midweek tables and casual entertaining.

Best for cellar 5.5/10

Built for drinking over 6 to 8 years rather than decades; firm Sagrantino tannin lets strong vintages hold, but it is not a long-haul cellar wine.

Best for an occasion 4.0/10

A dependable everyday red rather than a prestige bottle; the estate's Sagrantino di Montefalco DOCG fills the special-occasion role.

Scoring is rule-based and deterministic. The model and weightings are documented in our Wine Fit Score methodology.

Denomination Compliance Snapshot

Montefalco in five fields

A compact view of what the Montefalco denomination actually requires, and how this bottle sits inside it. Pulled from the official Italian disciplinare.

Allowed grapes
4 varieties listed
This bottle: Merlot.
Minimum ageing
Recorded by producer
Disciplinare ageing rule not yet recorded.
Region / area
Umbria
Style
DOC · Montefalco
Classification
DOC (Denominazione di Origine Controllata)
Vintages

Montefalco Rosso across the 2022 and 2023 vintages

Both recent releases drew strong notices: the 2022 took 92 points from Wine Enthusiast, while the 2023 earned 92 and 93 out of 99 from two other critics. Caprai gives the wine 6 to 8 years of cellar life.

2023 Current release
Best price
£18.44
Retailers
3 in stock
Window
Drink now through 2031

Critics rated the 2023 highly for the appellation, Falstaff at 92 and Luca Maroni at 93/99, and Vivino drinkers call it a top year for this wine. Built to drink from release into the early 2030s.

2022 Previous release
Best price
£23.00
Retailers
1 in stock
Window
Drink now through 2030

A warm, dry growing season in central Italy gave ripe, structured fruit; Wine Enthusiast scored Caprai's 2022 Montefalco Rosso 92 points. Drinking well now and through the late 2020s.

Drink-now / hold guidance reflects general style cues for this wine, not a forecast for a specific bottle. Where vintage-level editorial notes exist, they appear above.

The disciplinare, the place, the label

Arnaldo Caprai, the estate that revived Montefalco

From the Torre estate at Montefalco, Arnaldo Caprai built its name researching and replanting Sagrantino through the 1970s and 1980s. Montefalco Rosso is its everyday expression of that work, Sangiovese-led with the local grape woven through.

01

DOC, DOCG, IGT: what the badges mean

Italian wine law sorts bottles into a pyramid. DOCG sits at the top: tightly drawn boundaries, prescribed grapes, mandatory ageing, government tasting before release. DOC is the same idea with looser thresholds. IGT (Indicazione Geografica Tipica) is broader still, requiring only that 85% of the grapes come from the named territory.

Montefalco is in the DOC tier. That is not a quality verdict, it is a description of how much freedom the producer has at vinification and ageing.

02

The denomination rules, in detail

  • Allowed grapes. 4 varieties listed in the disciplinare
  • Tasting panel. No mandatory pre-release tasting
03

Region and area context

Montefalco falls within Umbria.

Montefalco DOC zone The producer Wine route in the zone

Made at Arnaldo Caprai, Montefalco. Directions

Wine route in the zone: Strada del Sagrantino.

04

Reading the label

  • Arnaldo CapraiProducer / estate
  • MerlotGrape varieties
  • Montefalco DOCGeographic indication and quality tier
  • 2023Vintage (year of harvest)
  • Imbottigliato all’origineEstate-bottled
05

What sits behind the price of Arnaldo Caprai Montefalco Rosso

Tracked from
£18.44
Direction
Mostly cost up
Drivers
4 up / 2 down
Main factor
Estate-grown fruit from Caprai's Montefalco vineyards
  1. 01

    Estate-grown fruit from Caprai's Montefalco vineyards

    Cost up

    Arnaldo Caprai farms its own Sangiovese and Sagrantino at the Torre estate at 5,000 to 6,000 vines per hectare, costlier than bought-in grapes and a clear step above supermarket Umbrian reds.

  2. 02

    15% Sagrantino, Montefalco's labour-intensive signature grape

    Cost up

    Sagrantino is thick-skinned, late-ripening and low-yielding; even a 15% share in the blend adds vineyard cost a pure Sangiovese red would avoid.

  3. 03

    Twelve months in barrique

    Cost up

    A year in small oak barriques, then at least four months in bottle, ties up barrel and cellar cost that tank-aged everyday reds skip.

  4. 04

    DOC, not DOCG, classification

    Cost down

    Montefalco Rosso sits below Sagrantino di Montefalco DOCG, with lighter ageing rules and no single-grape premium, keeping the UK price near 18 pounds rather than the DOCG's 30-plus.

  5. 05

    Large 200,000-bottle production

    Cost down

    Caprai makes around 200,000 bottles of Montefalco Rosso a year, and that scale plus wide UK distribution holds the shelf price down.

  6. 06

    UK duty and VAT on a still wine

    Cost up

    UK alcohol duty of 2.67 pounds a bottle on still wine up to 15% ABV, plus 20% VAT, accounts for over 5 pounds of the roughly 18-pound shelf price before retailer margin.

01

Estate-grown fruit from Caprai's Montefalco vineyards

Cost up

Arnaldo Caprai farms its own Sangiovese and Sagrantino at the Torre estate at 5,000 to 6,000 vines per hectare, costlier than bought-in grapes and a clear step above supermarket Umbrian reds.

Perfect Pairings

Dishes that go with this wine

Food Pairing

Sangiovese freshness, Sagrantino grip: dishes for Montefalco Rosso

Caprai pairs the wine with cured-meat and cheese antipasti, succulent first courses and roast white and red meats at 18 degrees. Its bright acidity and firm tannin handle fat and char without flattening the plate.

Tannin softening Strong match

Roast and grilled red meat

Sangiovese acidity and the firm Sagrantino tannin cut through fat and bind with grilled protein, refreshing the palate between bites of a chargrilled steak or a slow roast.

Try with: Fiorentina steak · Porchetta · Agnello Ragu Lucano · Lasagna · More pairings →

Fat cutting Strong match

Cured meats and medium-aged cheese

The producer's own pairing of salumi and medium-aged cheese works because the wine's acidity scrubs away salt and fat, while moderate tannin stands up to a hard sheep's cheese.

Try with: Pecorino sardo e pan carasau · Porchetta · Lasagna · More pairings →

Acidity matching Good match

Tomato-led baked pasta

Bright Sangiovese acidity mirrors the acidity of a tomato ragu, so a baked lasagna or a long-cooked meat sauce tastes balanced rather than sharp against the wine.

Try with: Lasagna · Agnello Ragu Lucano · Tagliatelle al tartufo di Acqualagna · More pairings →

Body matching Good match

Roast white meats and porchetta

Medium body keeps the wine from burying roast pork or chicken; its savoury, herb-tinged profile echoes the fennel and rosemary of an Umbrian porchetta.

Try with: Porchetta · Fiorentina steak · More pairings →

Aromatic bridge Good match

Earthy mushroom and truffle dishes

Sagrantino lends an earthy, spiced edge that bridges to porcini and truffle, lifting a mushroom risotto or a truffled tagliatelle without clashing with the fungi.

Try with: Porcini mushroom risotto · Truffle risotto · Tagliatelle al tartufo di Acqualagna · More pairings →

Avoid Clash

Very spicy, chilli-heavy dishes

The firm Sagrantino tannin amplifies chilli heat and turns bitter against fiery food, so the wine fights rather than flatters a hot curry or a Sichuan hotpot.

Skip with: Vindaloo · Sichuan hotpot · spicy laksa · Pairing guide →

Drinking + cellar

Cellaring Caprai's Montefalco Rosso

This is an everyday red built for drinking across its first 6 to 8 years rather than a long-haul cellar wine. The 12-month barrique and 4-month bottle ageing give early-drinking polish, while the firmer Sagrantino tannin lets strong vintages such as 2022 hold.

Drinking window
2025 → 2031

Best in the years above; holds without falling over either side.

Decanting
30 minutes

A short splash decant softens the first-pour edge and opens the aromatics.

Serving temperature
16-18°C

Aim for the cooler end on a warm day; warmer end opens up more aromatics.

Cellar potential
Medium

Built for drinking over 6 to 8 years rather than decades; firm Sagrantino tannin lets strong vintages hold, but it is not a long-haul cellar wine.

Buy now or wait?
Buy now

£18.44 for a 75cl bottle of the 2023, at Great Wines Direct, is the best price we track, and we have no signal of further discounting.

Sources & trust

Sources behind this Arnaldo Caprai Montefalco Rosso page

Prices & stock

Read directly from each retailer’s public product page once a day. Last refresh: 27 Oct 2026, 04:35 BST. We do not hold stock and we do not accept payment for placement.

Confidence · High
Tasting notes

Drawn from what drinkers consistently report on Vivino, summarised in our own words. A crowd read across many tasters, not a single critic. Drinkers score it 3.7 out of 5 from 19,847 ratings on Vivino.

Confidence · Medium
Appellation rules & ageing

From the official Italian disciplinare for this denomination, cross-checked against the Ministry of Agriculture register.

Confidence · High
Why it costs what it costs

Our reading of the price, drawn from the disciplinare, public UK duty rates, and typical landed-cost benchmarks. Not a quote from the producer or a retailer.

Confidence · Medium
Drink window & cellar potential

Style guidance for this kind of wine at this price point. Treat it as advice, not a forecast for the bottle in your hand.

Confidence · Medium
Related

Explore Montefalco, Sagrantino and Arnaldo Caprai

Common Questions

It is a blend of 70% Sangiovese, 15% Sagrantino and 15% Merlot. The Sagrantino, Montefalco's signature grape, adds grip and dark-fruit depth to the Sangiovese base, while the Merlot rounds the texture.

Arnaldo Caprai gives it 6 to 8 years of cellaring potential. The wine spends 12 months in barrique and at least 4 months in bottle before release, so recent vintages drink well now and hold for several years.

The producer recommends cured-meat and cheese antipasti, succulent first courses and roast white and red meats, served at 18 degrees. Umbrian porchetta, Fiorentina steak and ragu-rich pasta all suit its acidity and tannin.

No. Montefalco Rosso is a Sangiovese-led DOC blend with a small Sagrantino share, lighter and more approachable. Sagrantino di Montefalco DOCG is 100% Sagrantino, far more tannic and built for long ageing.

UK listings sit around 18 to 23 pounds a bottle, which places it among the better-value benchmark Umbrian reds given its 92 to 93 point critic scores.

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Arnaldo Caprai Montefalco Rosso