Assisi is a mystical palace for a myriad of reasons. Nestled in the hills of Umbria and part of the Province of Perugia, the medieval town is a history lover’s paradise. A short distance from natural wonders like the cavernous Grotte di Frasassi, the lakeside Parco Regionale del Lago Trasimeno, and the snow-capped mountainous Parco Nazionale dei Monti Sibillini, Assisi has something for everyone, not to mention the best Italian wine.
It is also a quiet holy sanctuary, thanks to the presence of St. Francis who called Assisi home in the late 12th and early 13th centuries. Revelers from around the globe flock to the walled, elevated town. Specifically, they come to see the two-level Basilica di San Francesco, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
For all its natural and sacred beauty, Assisi’s offerings don’t stop there.
After a morning walking in St. Francis’ footsteps, Assisi’s visitors can drive 11 minutes from the basilica to Cantina Saio Assisi. Here, the ultimate Umbrian culinary experience awaits.
Saio cultivates a winery experience that immerses visitors in its holy heritage. A unique offering of vineyard tours and outdoor tastings sets Saio apart. The backdrop of Assisi, St. Francis’ stomping grounds are ever present and have dubbed Saio’s farm as the Vineyard of Assisi. The Saio pavilion is where outdoor picnics and pairings take place. Most of the activities can add a trip to Assisi or its neighboring towns. Local Umbrian cuisine fills the culinary spreads. Torta al testo, lightly salted Umbrian flatbread, is paired with Tuscan caciotta cheese sprinkled with black truffle. Handmade pecorino and a spread of locally cured meats finish the feast. For spirits, the diverse selection of Umbrian delights is carefully curated for Saio’s wine. Each tasting is accompanied by four to five red and white wines.
Legumes have also been tied to Umbria wine pairings for centuries. Lentils find a robust production tradition in Umbria. Specifically, they are specialized in Castelluccio di Norcia. Minutes from Assisi is Spello, famous for Pinturicchio’s frescoes, which produced the tiny, rice-sized bean, Risina di Spello. Other pairings include Fagiolina del Trasimeno, a buckwheat from the Valnerina region, and Cascia’s Roveja, an ancient legume bursting with nutrients. Healthy and flavorful for legume and nut lovers, Saio’s red and white offerings are just as diverse, and pairable with each of these legumes depending on preparation.
Another standout activity is located on the Teaching Farm. Under the patronage of Comune di Assisi for its cultural impact, the farm takes visitors on a behind-the-scenes journey from vine to glass. The vintner’s apprentice course takes students up close and personal with the vineyard, analyzing soil varieties, their roots, vines, and grape varietals. Along the journey, students taste what they witnessed growing in Saio’s Assisi-facing vineyards. Four white and red varieties pair with picnic baskets brimming with Umbrian cuisine, rewarding students who become newly minted wine aficionados by the end of the course.
For all the sweeping vistas at the Vineyard of Assisi, there is more than what meets the eye. Saio is located in a special place for multiple reasons; Umbria is Italy’s only region with a region-wide label of DOP (Denominzaione di Origine Protetta, which is Protected Designation of Origin).
Most importantly, Assisi’s hills roll into Monte Subasio. The jagged mountain range looms behind Assisi’s walls and turns Saio’s soil into a permeable, pebbly quality. Vine roots penetrate the soil’s richest depths and absorb nutrients from the pebbles. As the vines sprout into full-grown plants, long shoots and excess leaves are trimmed by hand by Saio’s expert vintners. Meanwhile, the vineyard is exposed to constant sunlight, with temperatures fanned by the Tramontana breeze, even at nightfall.
At Saio, all of these elements merge for an explosion of flavor by the time the final product fills a glass. Robust with a high alcohol content, the wine’s strength is balanced by the fine, elegant quality of fruit from the grape berries. Aromatic notes of floral bouquets complete each glass as not only a flavorful wine, but an overall sensory experience.
Saio also hosts Grechetto, an Umbrian grape variety found in its whites. Specifically, Grechetto informs the minerality-rich Colderba and full-bodied Colle Asio white wines. Like most wineries in central Italy, Saio’s main red is Sangiovese. However, unlike Chianti and Brunello (both made from Sangiovese), Saio’s Sangiovese is not barreled in oak. Savio’s storing methods keep the wine from losing its minerality, which would happen with oak. This allows Saio’s Sangiovese reds to brim with inhibited cherry notes.
The red wine category also hosts the fan-favorite Eremo. A blend of complex Cabernet Franc and fruity Sangiovese, Eremo proves that opposites attract—always for the better. The merge of two opposing flavor palettes makes Eremo beloved by all preferences. It is also special for its precious symbolism. Eremo takes its name from Eremo delle Carceri, a 15th-century Franciscan hermitage nestled on a steep forge on Monte Subasio. The isolated mountain sanctuary was frequented by St. Francis himself, who chose the site to pray in silence, before St. Bernardine of Siena helped turn it into a cloistered friary by 1400. Eremo honors Assisi’s heritage as much as it honors Saio’s approach to robust, full-bodied reds.
Any successful Italian winery balances historical winemaking traditions with evolving consumer habits. According to Saio, the world of wine has seen rapid changes in the last several years. With changing habits of the modern consumer comes changing vintner methods. Traditionally, full-bodied and structured wines, such as Saio’s Leggenda Maior, accompany heavier dishes of red meats and starches. However, lighter dishes trending toward fish and vegetables call for fresher, less-complex wines like the Colderba white that can be consumed more frequently.
Saio’s job is to craft wines that cater to both, as the industry's trends swing up and down the spectrum constantly.
Tackling preferences for less alcohol content can present a challenge. A wine’s alcohol level depends on the grapes’ sugar levels. This is defined by the season. Recently, the Italian peninsula has seen steep summer temperatures. The hotter and more humid the summers, the higher the grape sugar content. Saio balances extreme summer heat with a targeted irrigation system implemented in all of its vineyards. Irrigation allows the grape to ripen slowly, avoiding the overripeness that can damage the fermenting process once the wine hits the cellars.
Saio also produces its own olive oil, perfect for its culinary wine tastings. Like the Teaching Farm, its olive oil production allows visitors to play a direct role in production. Adopt an Olive Oil Tree is an initiative that started in 2014, when a British visitor said, “I don’t know how extra virgin olive oil is made, but I love it! I’d love to have an olive tree here in Assisi!”
The project allows people to learn from first-hand experience how to cultivate an olive tree, harvest olives, and produce oil come autumn. With the project, Saio tosses out scientific terminology and brings the harvest back to the people. The program highlights the centuries-old techniques of Umbrian olive oil making while celebrating its rich flavor and aroma.
Saio is constantly improving while honoring its Umbrian heritage. Today, the facility has gotten a complete makeover, just in time for Jubilee year. Cooking classes and private events will have an all-new look in the redesigned outdoor areas. Additional renovation projects are on the Assisi-crested horizon…stay tuned!
While the Saio experience caters to the modern wine lover seeking Umbria at its finest, its authentic relationship with the land, geography, and history set the winery in a league of its own.
To schedule a tour, visit www.saioassisi.it/en/
