Paolo Bea San Valentino Rosso Umbria IGT 2010 750ml

Producer Profile

Paolo Bea
Founded more than 400 years ago, Paolo Bea dedicates itself to indigenous Umbrian grapes —Grechetto, Malvasia, Gargenega and Trebbiano for its whites, and Montepulciano d’Abruzzo and Sagrantino for its reds. The family-owned-and-operated Bea estate has long been a standard bearer of the Italian Slow Food Movement, and its motto is “Nature should be observed, listened to and integrated, not dominated. Wine is not made by man but generated by nature!” Because of this dedication to natural viniculture and viticulture, Bea’s team nurtures its grapes with organic, non-interventionist agriculture, and it continues that reliance on nature in the cellar, crafting its wines without temperature control and without any additives, yeasts, fining or filtration. The septuagenarian Paolo Bea is still the guiding force behind the estate, and he shares his traditional approach with his two sons: Giuseppe farms the vineyards, and Giampiero, current president of the Italian natural wine society Viniveri, heads up the winemaking. The Bea estate purposefully keeps its production low — so low that demand for its exceptional reds and outrageous whites always exceed supply. Each wine in Bea’s repertoire feels like a chapter in an ongoing story that, once experienced, you never want to stop reading!