2012 Paolo Bea Arboreus - Unique take on the Trebbiano Spoletino variety, with powerful soil and mineral leading the way to a complex finish of orange oil, lemon-lime spritz, passion fruit and white peach. Constantly shifting in the glass, this is a wine for those looking outside the box. More seabed notes on the back end of this developing, unique wine; aeration/decant suggested. 2018-2024. recommended
2009 Paolo Bea Montefalco Rosso Riserva Pipparello - A nice showing today, though clearly this is still holding back/developing. Some savory cherry on the medium-bodied frame, with decent supporting acidity and firm, sweet-ish tannins. With time in the glass, more complexity though the weight seems to stay the same. If I had any, I’d hold for at least 3-4 years as I feel this is still trying to break free from the gravity of youth. HOLD. recommended
2009 Paolo Bea Sagrantino di Montefalco Secco Pagliaro - Nothing modest about this one, it’s got plenty of fruit, soon but not yet-to-be resolved tannins, and a persistence that’s still developing. The EtOH bobbed and weaved as the temp in the room was beginning to rise. I think I’d serve this in a year or two, at 60F and with an hour of air beforehand. A nice persistence stayed with me minutes after I left the booth. Plenty of structure to stand on; HOLD. highly recommended
2009 Paolo Bea Sagrantino di Montefalco Passito - The 1997, tasted about a year after release, haunts me to this day; I see no reason that this shouldn’t follow in those footsteps. Magical elixir here, folks. highly recommended
Are you suggesting that the 2009 Secco Pagliaro should be in its drinking window in 2 years? I typically think 15 years is what this wine needs, at minimum to get tertiary flavors. Is it an early drinking vintage?
Good question, Eric, and I agree with you - as I think our palates/preferences align. But not all do, and so some will want to drink it on the young side. That said, those that prefer to drink it young, should not consider approaching the wine for at least 2 more years. I hope that clarifies.
i had a particularly amazing san valentino recently and frankly, im hooked. i was under the impression that san valentino is one of their lesser wines but with 10 years of age, it was quite revelatory frankly.
im sitting with some rosso de veo from 2011 but wanted to know if anyone can explain san valentino vs pipparello. both are mostly sangiovese blends…seems like pipparello has older vines, higher alcohol and needs more cellar time?
frankly, im not interested in waiting 10 years to drink a bottle and that san valentino just seemed perfect with 10 years of age. basically, is there worth a premium to buying pipparello over san valentino?
I know more about the whites than the reds, but according to the importer website there are a few differences. San Valentino has a bit more Sangiovese (usually around 70%), while Pipparello is around 60% sang. The main difference I see is that the San Valentino is aged for three tears in stainless steel and sees no oak. The Pipparello spends one year in steel and two in oak. So, whether the Pipparello is worth it for you might depend on how you feel about oak aging.
Coincidentally, I had the 2000 Paolo Bea Sagrantino Montefalco Secco about a week ago and it simply made a case for why one should have to go for Bea’s wines if one rarely drinks Umbrian, just as I do.
Personally, I think the wine has a pretty long window of drinking well, and while the 15 years suggested above might be as good generalization as to an average “optimum” time, I have certainly enjoyed many bottles with far fewer years of bottle age. I still have a few bottles in the '99-'03 range that need to be consumed sooner rather than later, and I do not think that it’s a good bet to hold these wines for much longer than 20 years before consuming (as I’ve had a few that became a bit too advanced for my taste at about that point…particularly the '99)…
Out of curiosity, what is the earliest vintage of Paolo Bea that anyone’s actually tried? I’ve had the '98 once, but have never tasted (or even seen) any of his wines dating back before that…though presumably that’s just because the '98 and '99 were the vintages widely available when I first discovered the producer, and it’s not a wine that’s so widely popular that you’re likely to see people bringing older bottles to tastings, etc…
Yes, I have always understood that the Pipparello is generally considered the more “serious” (and ageworthy) of the two (or at least that was the thinking some years back). I believe I had heard that although the San Valentino, was initially stainless steel only, it has started to receive some oak (post steel) in recent vintages…perhaps as a result of the vines getting or maybe just based on the characteristic of specific vintages. By contrast, I believe the Rosso de Veo is just younger vine material and also material that doesn’t make the quality cut for the other wines. I think the first vintage I saw was 2002, and I was told that they didn’t produce Pipparello or Pagliaro in that year and that ALL their juice was declassified to Rosso de Veo.
2015 Red wines across the board for Bea are absolute fire. Now that I have all of mine tucked away, I would highly encourage each of you to back up the truck and load up.
I have a bottle of 1994 Sagrantino secco, which I believe was the first year it was made (Paolo had been resistant to the idea of making a dry wine out of Sagrantino, but finally yielded to his sons’ progressive thinking). A bottle in 2005 was really good, but I’ve had a hard time pulling the trigger on my other.