Paolo Bea Montefalco Sagrantino Pagliaro 2019 (750ml)

Price: $119.99

Qty:   Add to Cart

Quantity in Stock: 12

Producer	Paolo Bea
Country	Italy
Region	Umbria
Subregion	Montefalco
Varietal	Sagrantino
Vintage	2019
Sku	48906
Size	750ml

   

V

97

Bea produces perhaps his most renowned wine from pure Sagrantino grown on the prized hilltop site of Pagliaro, situated at 1300 feet above sea level in Montefalco proper. The only wines that approach Bea’s in that regard are perhaps the most unsculpted Syrah-based wines of the Northern Rhône, but even those feel more constrained compared to top vintages of Pagliaro. Similarly large in scale to the Rosso de Veo, this actually presents with greater precision and nuance, its overall attack more subtle but ultimately no less impactful—direct evidence of a great terroir translated with consummate skill.

The fabled local grape of Montefalco is the Sagrantino and the Pagliaro vineyard, situated at 1,300 feet in altitude, is dedicated in large part to this grape variety. The harvest of Sagrantino normally occurs during the second half of October. The cuvaison extends for forty to fifty days. The wines is then aged for one year in stainless steel, another two years in large Slavonian oak barrels and, finally, spends one more year in bottle (the wine, like all Bea wines, is unfiltered) before release. 

Exotic from the first tilt of the glass, the 2019 Montefalco Sagrantino Pagliaro is youthfully intense, with a blend of rum-soaked cherries and a cascade of sweet spice, mixing dried violets with cloves, ashen stones and blood orange. This is elegant and refined, with silken textures and admirable weight, all supported by fresh acidity, as masses of ripe blueberry blend with sage and a salty tinge of minerality. A balsamic twang saturates the palate as the 2019 finishes staining and long with a saturation of primary concentration and a pleasantly bitter tinge that lingers over a bed of fine-grained tannins. Just a baby today, the 2019 is geared for the cellar. This is a spellbinding vintage of Pagliaro.