01 Paolo Bea Sagrantino di Montefalco Secco

D

drssouth

Stephen South
2001 Paolo Bea Sagrantino di Montefalco Secco, alc 14.5%, $80:...plums with a sweet tarriness...really plush and sweet fruit...moderate tannins....quite a mouthful....just going to get better and better...
did well with ricotta and spinach stuffed shells...
 
Surely beautiful stuff, but the tariff prices it out of my drinking que. If anyone knows anyone who's closing this out at, say, 1/2 price, please let me know.
 
Ditto.

But I do have just one each of the '99 and '01 and it has been hard of late to resist opening one.

Appreciate the note, drs.
 
Bea's red wines always seem to me as if they could use another 10-20 years in the cellar to really hit their peak. Too bad the pricing is so ambitious so as to make them impractical to open in their youth.

-Eden (way past being able to open them in my youth)
 
It may not have been Bea or Caprai, but when I visited Umbria years ago, we had a bottle of sagrantino nearly every night. It was at a little restaurant in Spoletto, which is the town we stayed in and took day trips out of.
Trattoria Festival - hard to forget - every time we went the bill got lower and portions bigger. Truffles on everything. They even gave use an orange-sized truffle to take with us at our last meal there.
I'd never had sagrantino before and had trouble finding it once we got home.
Then it was cheap red wine.
Now - well now I drink something else.
Best, Jim
 
I have tasted his sagrantino a couple of times and loved the stuff, though I find his wines very expensive. I was planning to buy a couple of his montefalco rosso. Someone familiar with them?
 
originally posted by Ignacio Villalgordo:
his montefalco rosso.
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Tasty, well-made, expensive wine. A recent 2004 brought by a generous friend was perhaps a little closed.
 
originally posted by Ignacio Villalgordo:
I have tasted his sagrantino a couple of times and loved the stuff, though I find his wines very expensive. I was planning to buy a couple of his montefalco rosso. Someone familiar with them?
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Good stuff, but know that there are 2 of them. They have names, but I forget them. A regular and a riserva, with the riserva having just a tad more sagrantino (perhaps 25% vs only 15% for the 'regular') in the blend of mostly sangiovese & montepulciano. They are both good, and I'm still sitting on the 2000 riserva and the 2001 regular. Hope this helps.
 
Bea_price_list.jpg
 
Just wondering if anyone can come up with the name of any producer whose wines have more soul than those of Bea? In fact, it's even very difficult for me to come up with anyone who has as much soul in his wines as Bea. Am I out on a limb or do others perceive this too?
 
originally posted by Florida Jim:
It may not have been Bea or Caprai . . . Best, Jim
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It's hard for me to think of two greater opposites than Bea and Caprai.(Although I suppose someone will invent them.) Chave and [censored]'s RO'd Hermitage, perhaps?
 
originally posted by Ned Hoey:
JasonA
Current prices where and to who? Italy and retail? Cellar door?
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Price list is from the Cantina/Cellar Door, July 2009. Retail prices were the same at the local enotecas.
 
I'm with Mark and joe on the Rosso (I've only had the Riserva) - really good but pricey. (Mark - I have a bottle of the '99 Rosso Riserva we can open sometime.)
 
I was able to taste through his offerings on the recent vacation. The Rosso's are very good but they both came off tasting extremely young - needing those 10-20 years. The Sagrantino was altogether a different beast. Very plush with well integrated tannins - quite the opposite of any previous Sagrantino I had every tasted.

Giampiero Bea runs the show these days, though Paolo made a guest appearance (I hope I look that good at his age). Giampiero is an Architect by training and is responsible for the new winery constructed next to the Cantina - I'll post some pictures soon.
 
originally posted by Claude Kolm:
Just wondering if anyone can come up with the name of any producer whose wines have more soul than those of Bea? In fact, it's even very difficult for me to come up with anyone who has as much soul in his wines as Bea. Am I out on a limb or do others perceive this too?
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Claude, I share your love for these wines. All substance, no polish.
 
originally posted by Claude Kolm:
originally posted by Florida Jim:
It may not have been Bea or Caprai . . . Best, Jim
Click to expand...
It's hard for me to think of two greater opposites than Bea and Caprai.(Although I suppose someone will invent them.) Chave and [censored]'s RO'd Hermitage, perhaps?
Click to expand...

I have not kept up with either producer (other than Bea's orange wine).
But in those days, both were pretty dependable for wines that tasted like the variety and were true to the place - or at least, that's how I felt.
Best, Jim
 
originally posted by Claude Kolm:
Just wondering if anyone can come up with the name of any producer whose wines have more soul than those of Bea? In fact, it's even very difficult for me to come up with anyone who has as much soul in his wines as Bea. Am I out on a limb or do others perceive this too?
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I'm out on that limb with you. There are other wines I like as much or more, but in terms of soulfulness, Bea is hard to top.
 
What is this 'soul' stuff you guys keep talking about?

I've never had wines from this Bea character. But it sounds interesting that you would put his wines so far ahead of other producers on this issue. Especially since I imagine there are many many people who you feel produce soulful wine (I know that is the case for me).
 
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