Paolo Bea Cerrete Montefalco Sagrantino 2012 ADDLEY CLARK FINE WINES

The picturesque Umbrian town of Montefalco is home to one of Italy’s best natural winemakers, Paolo Bea. The Bea family have had a long connection to the town of Montefalco dating back to the 1500’s with the current caretakers pushing the family name into the top echelon of great Italian wine producers. The small 15 hectare estate which only 5 are dedicated to vineyards is run on organic principles with no pesticides or fertilisers used.

The estate is run by brothers Giuseppe, who tends the vineyards, Giampiero who looks after the winemaking and the 72 year old Paolo Bea who keeps a watchful eye over the operation. The philosophy here is ‘nature should be observed, heard, understood, not dominated’ which truly defines every step in the process from growing the grapes to bottling the wine. The wine making approach is non-interventionalist and natural.

All of the important operations are undertaken according to the lunar calendar. All the grapes are harvested manually. The fermentation process starts sponteosusly with ambient yeasts and is not temperature controlled. The long fermentations with the skins varies from 16 days for the Arboreus Trebbiano to 39 days for the Sagrantino di Montefalco. The wines then undergo malolactic fermentation and are racked and then transferred to large neutral botte where they patiently rest until they are ready for bottling.

The wines are neither fined nor filtered and are not sulphured at all during the winemaking process. The Bea style is ethereal with subtlety, grace and elegance the hallmarks of these great wines. Put simply these are some of the best wines to come out of Italy. – Importer Note