The Bea family has been farming the same small farm in Montefalco, Umbria since the 1500’s. Paolo Bea is the current oldest generation presiding over the property. His two sons, Giuseppe and Giampiero, oversee most daily functions, with Giuseppe supervising agriculture and Giampiero serving as the estate’s current winemaker and business advisor. They own 15 hectares of land which is divided between olive trees, grains, vegetables, and of course vineyards. Multiple white and red grape varieties are grown on the Bea estate and the family’s olive oil is the stuff of legend. Still, intense, powerful Sagrantino-based red wines are what earns Paolo Bea a truly legendary standing among the planet’s finest wine estates.

One’s first impression of a glass of Paolo Bea’s Sagrantino is the deep sense of pure, unadulterated central Italian terroir. There is no other place on Earth that can produce such uniquely savage, raw and primal red wines—and Paolo Bea reds from a strong vintage are the definitive expression of this style. 2007 is a near perfect year for the Bea estate. 2001 and 2004 both come to mind as recent vintages that produced memorable Bea reds, but there is something additional present in 2007 that has these wines firing on all cylinders. There is simply more intensity, more fruit, more structure, and the deep soulfulness of the wines is undeniable.

The Bea estate is respected globally as a pioneer and leader of natural processes in the vineyard and cellar. When an Italian estate is considering a transition to organic viticulture or a more restrained winemaking approach, Giampiero Bea is one of the first names that comes up. He is president of Vini Veri (“real wines”), an organization including some of the top producers in Italy that espouses the virtues of organic farming and traditional methods in the cellar. The Bea family property is the embodiment of the Vini Veri manifesto: there are no chemicals used anywhere on the property and every effort is made to integrate nature’s “immune system” in solving challenges in the vines.

Giampiero takes a similarly purist approach with his flagship Sagrantino di Montefalco “Pagliaro.” The Pagliaro vineyard sits at 1300 feet elevation, and is planted almost entirely to Sagrantino. Grapes are harvested by hand and fermented in stainless steel tanks with no addition of packaged yeast or added nutrients. Fermentation on skins continues for up to two months—this allows for the extraction of impressive color and concentration. The wine remains in tank for 12 months, followed by 2 years in large Slavonian oak barrels. Ultimately, it is bottled without fining or filtration and left to age 9 months until release. This patient, deliberate approach results in one of the most thrilling red wines in Italy.

The 2007 Paolo Bea Sagrantino di Montefalco “Pagliaro” sits gorgeously in the glass. There is a certain vividness to its color and you can almost “see” the wine’s layered texture and depth.  Aromatically, this wine is a chameleon. One moment masculine aromas of dark berries, figs, balsamic reduction, leather, and charred meat leap from the glass. Then, ten minutes later the nose is all wild herbs, black tea and blue flowers. It is immensely exciting just to sit and smell this wine as it evolves over the course of an hour or two. Immediately after pulling the cork, the wine’s palate is impressively structured with alternating layers of dense tannin and acidity.  As the bottle slowly opens up, its body armor gives way to soft fruit and a seductively long finish. I could talk about it for hours but I think you get the point—this is a truly thrilling, moving wine. This bottle has all the fireworks you could ever ask for and it will be most flattered by an understated, rustic meat preparation. So do yourself and the wine the honor of serving it with a simply prepared veal chop with mushrooms. I recommend using the hours you save preparing this simple dish to sit and enjoy the wine after your meal. The more time you spend with it, the more impressive it becomes. You might notice some retailers having this wine for dramatically less expensive online, but as usual they don’t have the wine in stock.