Paolo Bea 'Santa Chiara' Bianco, Umbria, Italy 2020

Paolo Bea 2020 'Santa Chiara' Bianco, Umbria, Italy

Bea’s wines remain singular—boisterous, unabashedly wild expressions of their undulating, sun-drenched hills of origin, each new vintage of which is eagerly anticipated by a legion of loyal clients. Giampiero’s wines always proudly display their vintage: he pointedly resists striving for a consistent “product” from year to year, and the wines are bottled when they’re deemed ready rather than according to some schedule. Giampiero relies on patience, and plenty of it, and what is in the bottle is always a full-on reflection of the fruit and the story of the season that birthed it.

• Winemaker: Giampiero Bea
  
• Farming: Organic, Biodynamic
• Variety: Grechetto (20%), Malvasia (20%), Sauvignon (20%), Garganega (20%), Chardonnay (20%)
  
• Terroir: Trained in Cordon (Arboreus vines are trained up trees), vines for Pipparello and Cerrete are at least 20 years old. San Valentino vines are 50 years old. Vines for Arboreus and Lapideus are over 80 years old
  
• Vinification: After crushing and destemming, wine ferments spontaneously in stainless-steel tanks, spending at least 2 weeks on its skins. The wine is then pressed using a vertical basket press. The wine spends 12-20 months on lees, with Spontaneous malolactic fermentation in tank following alcoholic fermentation
• Aging: 12-20 months in stainless-steel tanks. Unfined, unfiltered, no added sulfur with 40-55 mg/l total sulfur.