Ask any experienced sommelier for list of iconic Italian producers, and Paolo Bea is sure to be on it. Bea is most known for his incredible and age worthy expressions of Sagrantino, and he has been an icon and champion for native Italian wines for years. For those unfamiliar, Sagrantino is Umbria's signature indigenous grape and by far their most prized. It's a burly, powerful variety known for roaring tannins and crunchy, ripe black fruits with notes of smokey cedar and tons of herbs and spices like anise and rosemary. If high tannins are your thing then Sagrantino is your perfect match. These wines are intense and fiery in their youth but also bursting with charm and powerful fruit that stands up to and even harmonizes with the muscular structure. Paolo Bea is an icon for a reason as he somehow manages to tame this wild beast of a grape and turn it into some of the most seductive and pleasurable wines of Italy.
While Paolo Bea's style is sometimes put in the natural wine camp, the family's winemaking experience dates back over 500 years, and the wines are just incredibly traditional and without any modern, flashy winemaking techniques. In essence, Paolo was making "natural wine" before natural wine was even a thing. Despite their low sulfur additions, zero new oak, and more rustic traditional winemaking, these powerful, tannic, behemoths crafted from the classic varieties of the Central Italian waistline are generously ripe and fleshy and often clock in around 14.5 to 15% ABV. These wines are often so big in youth they would make any Napa wine but Harlan Estate pink in the cheeks. As high-end Italian importer Neal Rosenthal puts it "Bea’s wines remain singular—boisterous, unabashedly wild expressions of their undulating, sun-drenched hills of origin, each new vintage of which is eagerly anticipated by a legion of loyal clients." Their opulence and grippy tannic structure is balanced by a space opera of exotic spices, herbs and aromatics tantrically woven into a velvet fabric. These are a must try for vinous explorers and all those passionate about Italian wine. If you love rustic, traditionally made wines or native Italian grapes and have not discovered these yet, welcome to your next dream wines. - BRANDON KERNE, MASTER SOMMELIER
With its mineral-rich soils and its acidity-enhancing altitude (450 to 500 meters), Cerrete—the highest-altitude vineyard in Montefalco—yields a wine not more powerful than Bea’s other pure-Sagrantino titan “Pagliaro,” but with greater nuance and a finer expression of detail. In acknowledgment of its stature, Giampiero gives it an additional year in large Slavonian oak, making for a five-year stint in barrel before the prescribed resting period in bottle.
This 2017 is a benchmark—soaringly aromatic (cumin, cardamom) and wild to its core, yet refined like a great old-school Brunello—with 44 days of maceration and an alcohol percentage of 15% which the wine supports effortlessly.
Per Rosenthal Wine Merchant (Paolo Bea's US Importer): "The cooler and drier position of the Cerrete vineyard, located at the highest altitude in Montefalco, take Sagrantino to new heights. Fermentation begins naturally after a 45-day maceration, then the wine spends a year in steel tanks, before resting for 43 months in large oak barrels. The resulting wine is intense in nearly every aspect, with a deep violet color, robust tannins, and power that announces itself from the first aromas through the persistent finish. Despite all of this intensity, the wine is not heavy, as the terroir provides lift and elegance that enchants the senses."
