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
Per Rosenthal Wine Merchant (Paolo Bea's US Importer): “Lapideus” Umbria Bianco: Giampiero acquired a parcel of 80-year-old Trebbiano Spoletino in the town of Pigge di Trevi several years back, and thus with this 2014 we have an exciting new addition to the Bea lineup. Arising from a cooler microclimate than the “Arboreus” above, “Lapideus” spent a lengthy 35 days on it skins after pressing, followed by 210 additional days on the gross lees—a similar vinification to “Arboreus,” yet one that yielded entirely different results. Though no less deeply amber in its appearance, “Lapideus” has a leaner, racier carriage than the broad-shouldered “Arboreus,” with more filigree, a less overwhelmingly intense nose of apricots, cloves, and candied ginger. If “Arboreus” is a sea to swim in, “Lapideus” is a rocket to ride, emphasizing drive and lift over layered density. It is still a wine of impressive power, especially given its modest 12% alcohol, but the fruit is more direct, pure, and foregrounded. So often the so-called “orange wines” seem to stand alone, iconoclastic creations that defy fine-tuned peer-group comparisons and revel in their singular personalities. Even the discourse that surrounds them tends to treat them more as wines of technique than wines of terroir. Thus, it is fascinating to experience the same grape variety given roughly the same treatment by the same grower, whereby the differences in the wines are largely driven by the differences in their underlying places of origin."
92 Points from Eric Guido of Vinous: "The 2019 Lapideus is honeyed with dried peaches and apricots, complemented by spiced blood orange. This is lively and softly textured, soothing the senses with mineral-tinged pit fruits and sweet spices. It finishes with tension, puckering the cheeks as hints of nectarine and liquid stone slowly fade."