“It’s been an exciting adventure with Sagrantino since we started growing it”, said Paul Bonarrigo, who with his wife Merrill are co-founders of Messina Hof Winery and Resort in Bryan. “You know, with my Italian roots, I just love deep, dark red wines and this one really captivated me.” Paul’s ‘love affair’ with Sagrantino started when the Bonarrigos were teaching wine hospitality and retailing at a wine conference. Paul said, “It was an incredible meeting with people coming from around the world and we all met-up in Umbria.”

Paul and Merrill toured the region and had an opportunity to meet two of the foremost families growing and making Sagrantino wines – the Caprai and Longarotti families. The Bonarrigos toured their vineyards and wineries near the village of Montefalco. Nearly all of Sagrantino comes from Umbria and these families have dedicated themselves to advancing this rustic grape with likely ancient origins from traveling Catholic monks around 1200 AD.

Paul said, “I had a chance to learn about Sagrantino from these masters with details specific to Sagrantino di Montefalco DOCG, a small Umbrian appellation that requires that the wines be 100% Sagrantino. I was originally told that Sagrantino vines were not shipped out of Umbria, as it was a protected grape in Italy. When I returned to the U.S., I contacted University of California at Davis and asked them if I could get Sagrantino vine cuttings. They told me that they had some vines that on import were marked Primitivo, but prior to release they did DNA testing and the vines turned out to the Sagrantino.”

Once they told Paul where to get it, he bought up every Sagrantino plant he could find – 12,000 in all!” After dispersing his Sagrantino cuttings to his High Plains growers, Paul bought more Sagrantino to grow in Bryan. There, it grew so prolifically that he is now converting the trellis system to better support them.

When I asked Paul why did he do it, he said, “You know, when you fall in love, you fall in love.” I guess, it was just a case of love at first taste.