Azienda Agricola Paolo Bea sits in the hills around Montefalco, where the Bea family has lived and farmed since the 1500s. This is a true Umbrian fattoria, a place where vineyards, olive trees, orchards, grains, animals, and family life are woven together in a way that feels timeless. The estate carries a sense of continuity that is almost disarming, as if the land itself shapes the rhythm of each day. Paolo Bea’s conviction that nature should be observed, listened to, and never dominated gives the wines a presence that feels both ancient and deeply personal.
Today, Paolo’s sons, Giuseppe and Giampiero, carry that ethos forward with a devotion that can be felt in every bottle. The vineyards are tended with the same patience and humility that defined their father’s work, and the wines that emerge are unmistakably of this place. They are wild, expressive, full of pulse and emotion, and they remain some of the most meaningful bottles within our cellars, on our tables, and in our memories. These are wines that continually inspire us and create reference points vintage after vintage.
Cerrete stands at the summit of the Bea estate in every sense. Drawn from the highest vineyard in Montefalco, a site that is cooler and drier than the parcels below, it shows what sagrantino can achieve when grown at altitude. The fruit spends forty five days on its skins before fermentation begins naturally, followed by a year in steel and nearly four years in large oak botti. Even by Bea standards, the elevage is remarkably patient, a reflection of the vineyard’s stature and the gravity of the wine it produces.
The 2017 Cerrete is profound, offering an intensity that announces itself from the first aromas and carries through a long, resonant finish. The color is deep violet, almost opaque, and the nose is saturated with dried cherry, blackberry, fig, warm spice, and the savory herbal tones that mark great sagrantino. The tannins are powerful yet improbably refined, shaped into something silky and compelling by the long, slow aging. Despite its concentration, the wine feels lifted by the character of the site, giving it an elegance that keeps every element in balance. Produced in very small quantities, Cerrete remains the pinnacle of Bea’s work, a wine of depth, structure, and presence that speaks to the highest expression of Montefalco’s hills.
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This is available as a pre-sale. We anticipate these wines will arrive by December, and will be ready to ship as weather allows. We will contact you at that time to arrange delivery. Please note pre-arrival sales are non-refundable as suppliers require us to make binding commitments and deposits to secure the wine.
