Paolo Bea, Montefalco Sagrantino “Pagliaro”

What you’re looking at here is a reference point: the quintessential expression of a unique grape variety and the lone appellation in which it is grown. But even outside Montefalco, the picture-book town in central Umbria where Paolo Bea’s family has been rooted since the 1500s, this wine looms large.It is a sought-after trophy wine among restaurant buyers and collectors but also an exemplar of the most ecologically sound methods in both the vineyards and cellar—a “natural” wine long before that was fashionable. The Bea farm is a place many wine pilgrims have gone out of their way to visit, only to be greeted and fêted by Paolo himself, who may have turned the day-to-day over to sons Giampiero and Giuseppe but is still an active participant in every facet of the operation. And of all the wines Signore Bea might pour for you, his Montefalco Sagrantino “Pagliaro” is the flagship—a single-vineyard powerhouse from the Sagrantino grape, aged four years in tank, barrel, and bottle before rel