The last time I went to visit
Bea’s winery was in early 2008. The
winery was under major construction and Giampiero was quite tense about the
situation. He asked us not to photograph
the new winery and wasn’t thrilled about my friend Rebecca (aka
rebeccawineintuscany.com) and her giant video camera being in the old tasting
room. After he got to know her, he
softened up though and enjoyed being filmed.
You can check out the post,
though the video was removed because Caprai found it problematic.
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| fireplace in new tasting room |
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| new tasting room |
On this visit, 8 years later the
winery is very close to being done, though there wasn’t a table in the nice new
tasting room, therefore we still had to do the tasting in the little, old,
cold, barrel room.
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| old tasting room |
Let’s hope that next
time, who know when that will be, we will be able to finally enjoy the new tasting
room.
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| new tasting room |
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| ultra modern waiting room of office |
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| front detached area of winery |
The old tasting room has it’s
charm and history, but it is also the entry into the family home and let’s just
say that there isn’t a warm & friendly
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| kitchen of new tasting room |
vibe in there.
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| back of winery |
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| front of winery |
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| travertine wall |
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various vats
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The work that Giampiero has put
into this winery and attention to detail is exquisite to say the least. I believe that it is a completely sustainable
winery.
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front of Paolo Bea Winery
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I have always been a fan of Bea’s
reds, and his Sagrantino is one of the best in Montefalco.
Though recently his Santa Chiara white blend,
and what a blend it is, has been getting a lot of attention.
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| window in front of elevator |
We quickly tasted through all the
wines with Mercedes our winery host. I
have to say that first off I’m not a fan of blends, especially when there is
more that 3 grapes. Even after being a
sommelier, or wine aficionado, as I prefer to call it, I find blends
confusing. Santa Chiara 2011 is a blend
of Grechetto, Malvasia, Garganega, and Chardonnay! I found it easy to drink and quite dry on the
finish, but it just didn’t do anything for me.
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| stairway |
What I did like was the Arboreus 2010, which is a single varietal 100% Trebbiano Spoletino. Local makes good! The nose was really nice, almost smoky, though might be a little difficult to pair with food.
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| Trebbiano Spoletino |
The 2007 San Valentino Montefalco
Rosso really tasted well, as was the 2006 Pipparello, aka, Montefalco Rosso
Riserva.
The Pagliaro 2006 was too oxidized
to get a feel for it, and the 2005 (which had been opened almost 3 weeks prior
was still drinkable but faded.
The Passito was nice, and still
drinking well even after being opened a month ago.
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| my tasting notes |
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| the line up of Bea's wines |
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| unique design of drying racks for the Sagrantino grapes |
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| Sagrantino grapes as raisins on the straw racks |
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| walkway entry |
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| press |
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| detail of the Sagrantino in their final phase |
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| back of winery |
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| the labels available to take as reference |
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the green heart of Italy, a fantastic view from the tasting room of Paolo Bea Winery in Montefalco
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