In local tradition, the Sagrantino grape was made into sweet wines just like this. The 2010 Montefalco Sagrantino Passito (375 milliliters) opens to an impenetrable and inky black appearance. The tannins are tamed by the sweetness, but the wine is super rich and concentrated nonetheless. I love that sweet espresso or chocolate-covered-cherry flavor (like a Mon Cheri candy) you get on the close. Sagrantino grapes are dried on straw maps for an extra long time (up to 65 days) and the final blend is aged in cement vats for two years before the wine's commercial release. Only 7,200 bottles were produced.

The 2008 Sagrantino di Montefalco Passito is a syrupy dessert wine with a midnight black color and dense aromas of dried prune and plum. The tannic austerity of the grape is nicely offset by the chewy sweetness of the residual sugar. Anticipated maturity: 2014-2022. Importer: Omniwines Distributing Co.; www.omniwines.com

Here’s a thickly concentrated red dessert wine with sweet aromas of blueberry, forest berries and Christmas spice. It has good intensity and a syrupy-dense mouthfeel that ends with a surprising blast of astringency. You definitely need to pair this wine with a chocolate-based dessert in order to soften up those jackhammer tannins.——M.L.(9/1/2009)—— 86