2017 Paolo Bea "Cerrete" Sagrantino Secco di Montefalco Vigneto, Umbria, Italy
Regular price $200.00
Unit price per
100% Sagrantino
The Bea family has been residing in Montefalco, the beautiful hill town in Umbria, since the1500s. Azienda Agricola Paolo Bea is a classic Italian fattoria, producing wine, raising farm animals for trade and home consumption, and working the land to produce olives, fruits, and vegetables. In the 1908's Giampiero Bea was learning the ropes alongside his father Paolo—a through-and-through farmer. Paolo produced shockingly expressive wines using a bare minimum of technology, and while these staunchly old-school wines were out of step with the modernization-happy Italian trends of the 1980s and 1990s, they resonated deeply within the wine community and they continue to do so decades later. Giampiero has long been at the helm and his commitment to healthy farming and low-intervention cellar work has made him a pillar in the Italian natural wine community. But it is Paolo’s approach—so bred-in-bone as to seem instinctual—that guides the estate to this day, given voice and definition through Giampiero’s remarkable work.
The Beas are masters of Sagrantino, a native Umbrian grape variety grown and vinified by just a few dozen winemakers, mostly in and around the town of Montefalco. The cooler and drier Cerrete vineyard is located at the highest altitude in Montefalco. 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 the intensity, the wine is not heavy, but lifted and elegant.