Hey [[contact.first_name|default: "Friend"]],
I thought you might be interested in this allocation! -Cara Patricia
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Limited Drop: Paolo Bea's legendary 2019 reds and 2021 Santa Chiara white are arriving the first week of December, and I wanted to give you first crack at this tiny allocation. These wines have a cult following for good reason, and when Vinous starts handing out multiple 97-point scores, you know something special is happening.
I've been to Umbria, the landlocked region tucked between Tuscany and Marche. It's all forests, black truffles, and medieval hill towns. Montefalco itself feels like something out of a gothic novel, with tiny cobblestone streets winding beneath woods and church spires. Sagrantino, the grape that calls this place home, is dark, brooding, and deeply complex with high tannins which demand long aging in both cask and bottle. If Dracula
drank wine, he'd drink Sagrantino. Honestly, I'm surprised Nosferatu wasn't set here!
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Azienda Agricola Paolo Bea
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The Real Deal from Umbria For over four decades, the Bea family has been making some of Italy's most uncompromising, singular wines. Today, Giampiero Bea runs Azienda Agricola Paolo Bea, the estate named for his father. The Bea family has been documented in Montefalco since 1500, and Paolo produced shockingly expressive wines using a bare minimum of technology. His Umbrian dialect was so thick even other Italians couldn't understand him, but his wines spoke clearly enough. While these staunchly old-school wines were out of step with the
modernization-happy Italian trends of the 1980s and 1990s, Giampiero saw what made them special and built a philosophy around it.
2024 brought heartbreak to the family, with the passing of Paolo in January, followed by his son Giuseppe just months later. Yet the estate endures. Giampiero continues to carry the torch, and the wines remain what they've always been: boisterous, wild expressions of Umbria's sun-drenched hills
Giampiero became a co-founder of the ViniVeri ("Real Wine") movement. While everyone else was embracing stainless steel and temperature control, he went the opposite direction. No green harvesting, no sorting out the "bad" grapes, no temperature regulation, no pumping, no fining, no filtering. Just patience, and lots of it. The reds spend upwards of four years in cask, bottled only when Giampiero decides they're ready.
Each vintage proudly shows its personality. Giampiero refuses to make the same wine year after year. This approach has earned the estate a devoted following of people who understand that great wine comes from trust and time, not technology.
The 2019 Vintage Reds. In 2019, Montefalco experienced a more typical growing season: warm and dry throughout the summer, balanced by diurnal temperature shifts. According to Vinous, "The 2019s are intense, powerful, structured, radiant and fruit-focused wines. Lovers of classic, long-aging Sagrantino will find much to like about them."
The scores speak for themselves. These are wines built for the cellar.
And One Wild White from 2021. While Bea is legendary for his Sagrantino, his approach to white wine is just as uncompromising. The Santa Chiara spends at least two weeks fermenting on its skins (the 2021 got 28 days, which is longer than usual). This extended skin contact is what creates an "orange wine," though that term doesn't really do justice to what's happening here. It's the same philosophy Giampiero applies to his reds: wild fermentation, no
temperature control, no added sulfur, just time and patience in stainless steel tanks.
The 2021 vintage is arriving now because whites age faster than the reds. While the 2019 Sagrantinos spent four years in cask before Giampiero deemed them ready, the whites spend 12-20 months in tank. This is still significantly longer than most producers would dare, but that extended aging on the lees is what gives these wines their incredible depth and complexity. Think of it as the white wine equivalent of what makes Bea's reds so special:
a refusal to rush, and total trust in the wine's ability to clarify and develop on its own terms.
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Get an automatic 5% off 6+ bottles, or 10% off 12+ bottles. Order online for in-store pick up or shipping.
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2019 "Cerrete" Montefalco Sagrantino Secco – 97 points, Vinous
Only 3 bottles available | $228 This is one of the most sought-after wines in the Bea portfolio. From one of Montefalco's highest-altitude vineyards, the Cerrete parcel has poor, mineral-rich soils and altitude that preserves acidity beautifully. Lighter on its feet than Pagliaro but with even greater nuance and detail. Like dialing up a microscope to render more precision. The 2019 shows "astonishing balance" at 15.5% alcohol, with macerated cherries, church spices, and a
density that feels natural to the terroir. Only a 29-day maceration. Vinous calls it "a dark beast of a Sagrantino" with cherry sauce, ginger, clove, seared meat, and flowery underbrush. Velvety textures, dense ripe fruit, black tea-like tannins, lingering licorice.
2019 "Pagliaro" Montefalco Sagrantino Secco – 97 points, Vinous
8 bottles available | $128 The flagship. Pure Sagrantino from the hilltop Pagliaro site at nearly 400 meters. The 2019 is "exotic from the first tilt of the glass." Rum-soaked cherries, sweet spice, dried violets, cloves, blood orange. Elegant and refined with silken textures, fresh acidity, masses of ripe blueberry with sage and salty minerality. A 31-day maceration, 15% natural alcohol. Vinous calls it "spellbinding" and "just a baby today, geared for the
cellar."
2019 "Pipparello" Montefalco Rosso Riserva – 96 points, Vinous
Only 6 bottles available | $109 From the Pipparello cru at 400 meters altitude (gravel and clay soils). This is 60% Sangiovese, 25% Montepulciano, 15% Sagrantino. The 26-day maceration is relatively brief for Bea, resulting in seamless concentration rather than intense structure. Vinous calls it "hauntingly dark" with grilled herbs, cloves, flowery undergrowth, and dried black cherries. Silken textures, vivid red berry fruits, a cascade of spices, fine-grained tannins. "Bury
the 2019 deep in the cellar," they say. This is a particularly refined Pipparello that will age effortlessly.
2019 "Rosso de Veo" Umbria Rosso – 95 points, Vinous
12 bottles available | $102 Pure Sagrantino from younger vines and parcels that don't quite make the cut for the single-vineyard bottlings. But don't let that fool you. This is a 95-point wine with a formidable 45-day maceration. "Dark and brooding," with dried black cherries, autumnal spices and rubbed sage. Depths of ripe red and blue fruit, saline minerals, and a vivacious mouthfeel. While labeled Umbria Rosso, Vinous says "it could easily be a Montefalco
Sagrantino" and offers incredible value.
2021 "Santa Chiara" Umbria Bianco – 93 points, Vinous
12 bottles available | $74 This is what people call an "orange wine." A field blend of Grechetto, Malvasia, Chardonnay, Sauvignon, and Garganega from the Pagliaro vineyard, fermented on skins for at least two weeks (the 2021 got 28 days, longer than usual). Deep golden-yellow color, with fermented ginger, cedar shavings, exotic florals, and dried apricots. Soothingly round with inner sweetness and a liquid floral concentration. Green apples, chamomile, lightly tannic
finish. This is wild, explosive, and totally unique. Macerated peaches, brassy spice, white pepper, candied citrus.
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Paolo Bea 'Cerrete' Montefalco Sagrantino Secco, Umbria, Italy 2019 *presale!*
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Paolo Bea 'Pagliaro' Sagrantino di Montefalco, Umbria, Italy 2019 *presale*
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Paolo Bea 'Pipparello' Montefalco Rosso Riserva, Umbria, Italy 2019 *presale*
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Paolo Bea 'Rosso de Veo' Rosso, Umbria, Italy 2019 *presale*
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Paolo Bea 'Santa Chiara' Bianco, Umbria, Italy 2021 *presale*
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Paolo Bea 'Cotidie' Umbria Rosso, Umbria, Italy 2021 in-stock now!
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These are minuscule quantities and they're highly allocated. If you want in, let us know ASAP by reserving your bottles today, ordering online for pick-up or shipping. These allocations are available for pick-up or shipping on/after Wednesday 12/3/25. Cheers!
~ Cara Patricia, DECANT Co-founder
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Interested in something else?
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Keep browsing below: you can see our current in-stock inventory at DECANT Napa!
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© DECANT Napa Bottle Shop & Bar
2999 Solano Avenue, Napa, United States, 94558
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