One of the perks of buying Italian wine for restaurants was the occasional arrival of an incredibly fresh, luminously green, unspeakably delicious bottle of olive oil from a great wine producer. Usually, these rare treats were brought over by wine importers in small quantities and handed out as gifts to sommeliers and chefs, but there are many famous wineries (Cappezzana in Tuscany leaps to mind) whose olive oil has become as sought-after as their wines.
Rosenthal Wine Merchant, the importer of the iconic wines of Paolo Bea, has an entire specialty foods division devoted to the various oils, honeys, grains, and condiments produced at some of the wineries they work with—and Bea is one of the headliners. Today, considering the tiny amounts of each we managed to get our hands on, we decided to combine the Bea family’s incomparable single-vineyard Montefalco Rosso Riserva, “Pipparello,” with a bottle of their voluptuous, organically farmed olive oil. The Bea family farm, a bucket-list destination for the geekiest of wine pilgrims, is the complete antithesis of mass-scale monoculture; this is readily evident in both the vibrant energy of today’s 2015 Montefalco Rosso Riserva and the viscous decadence of the 2019 Olio Extra Vergine. I expect these combo packs will disappear in an instant, so act fast for a wide-angle view of Umbrian gastronomic greatness! (Complimentary Ground Shipping starts with a single 2-pack.)
For many of our subscribers, the Paolo Bea wines need no introduction: Whether it’s the powerhouse “Pagliaro,” the ultimate expression of Montefalco's Sagrantino grape, or today’s “Pipparello,” a classic Montefalco Rosso DOC blend of Sangiovese, Sagrantino, and Montepulciano, these are sought-after collectibles that don’t show up much on retail shelves. The Bea family’s history in the Montefalco area dates to the 1500s, but only in the last 20 years or so have their wines really blown up on the international stage. Patriarch Paolo Bea has mostly handed over day-to-day operations to sons Giampiero and Giuseppe, but there are many Italian wine geeks out there who’ve been greeted and fêted at the Bea farm by Paolo himself.
In addition to their five hectares of wine grapes, the Beas grow olives, vegetables, grains, and raise animals as well. It is a self-sustaining organic farm, on which the wine (and oil!) is produced in the most traditional way possible. Here are the details on the two Bea gems in this two-pack:
The “Pipparello” Montefalco Rosso Riserva 2015 is named for a hilltop vineyard parcel perched at 1,300 feet, in soils of clay and gravel. Vines in the site average about 20 years of age and the harvest is typically carried out in mid-October. Comprised of 60% Sangiovese, 25% Montepulciano, and 15% Sagrantino, this is a riserva-level bottling subjected to an extra-long cuvaison (fermentation in contact with the skins/solids) of 40-50 days, which lends the wine its powerful structure. Aging is carried out first in stainless steel tanks (one year), followed by two years in large Slavonian oak barrels and a year in bottle before release. It’s a deep garnet-red in the glass, a brooding melding of red and black fruits and loamy earth. Scents of sappy black cherry, cassis, mulberry, leather, dark spice, and turned earth carry over to a taut, medium-plus-bodied palate. Even at five years of age, it shows best after an hour or so in a decanter paired with a hearty grilled or roasted meat dish.
Bea’s Olio Extra Vergine picks up on the Dr. Bronner’s-style labeling of the wines and is described as a type of extra-virgin known as grezzo, meaning “raw,” or “untouched.” It has harvested in 2019, and is described as follows by its importer:
“The olives are grown on the Bea property with the same care taken as they do with their vineyards—naturally, organically. Harvest occurs usually in November. The olives are then transported to the ‘frantoio’ of Del Sero in Moriano, where the olives are macerated by a stone mill and cold-pressed. There has been no filtration in order not to modify the unique flavors, so there may be a light deposit at the bottom of the bottle. The resulting oil has the color, texture and weight of melted butter but with the fragrance of a light breeze coming through the olive trees. Once you smell it and taste it, you will be looking for any excuse to use it.”
My move with this two-pack will be to decant the wine, reverse-sear a ribeye steak, cook some white beans to go with it, and drizzle the oil over everything (not the wine, obviously). It’s going to be epic—I encourage you to do the same. Salute!
