Wine Blogging Wednesday #16
Hosted by Derrick at
An Obsession With Food (and Wine)
(Link to the Roundup)

This month our two wines are from:



2003 Paolo Bea Santa Chiara



2000 Paolo Bea Montefalco Sagrantino Secco Pagliaro

This month, our friend Derrick of An Obsession With Food (& Wine) is the host of Wine Blog Wednesday. His challenge is to Choose a Wine By Its Label. In other words, a pretty bottle. But to me, it's got to be more than that, as our choice does. I chose pretty text that's informative.

Our TWO wines are from Paolo Bea (BEE-ah) - one white, one red. Their labels, as you can see to the left, have a tremendous amount of information and are also very pleasing to the eye. The Santa Chiara has, in both Italian and English, "Don't Litter The Environment", the temperate to serve it at (12-15 degrees celsius), how it was fermented, and lots more. What's key about this is that you can tell that a lot of thought and care went into the making of this wine. As you might guess, these are organic wines with no fining or filtering. They seem very pure.

Or take this, from the Madrose website, "The entire property encompasses 15 hectares: 5 of which are dedicated to the vineyards, 2 to olives, and the remainder to the fruits, vegetables and grains that are grown." Now think of another winery, where that's the case. (And I can't help thinking that many others would plant more vineyards on this property.) Click here for more of the history of this winery.

2003 Paolo Bea Santa Chiara
This 2003 Vino Bianco da Tavola is a blend of grechetto, malvasia, chardonnay, sauvignon blanc and garganega.

Tasting Notes:
Joanne: Nose of broiled grapefruit. Tastes of shellfish, buttered shrimp and a touch of oak well integrated. Very clean and fresh flavors. Good acids. Nicely Balanced. Long finish. Really enjoyable - and interesting!

Jack: Great acids, robust flavor, and long finish. This wine tastes great and I'm not sure if I can resist ordering a case. To me, this is a $25 wine that tastes like a $75 wine. It most reminds me of Movia's 2000 Veliko Bianco (Joanne concurs).

It costs $25-$30 and is available from Italian Wine Merchants in NYC, Wine Exchange in LA, and some others. Just 3030 bottles were produced (about 250 cases). Paolo Bea's wines are imported by Rosenthal Wine Merchant in NYC - contact them to find a source near you.

Yes, this one is made from the Sagrantino grape (also being made famous by Arnaldo Caprai). (Secco means Dry...Passito is the sweet wine.) This wine bottle is also individually numbered - ours was 0681. I credit Sergio Esposito of Italian Wine Merchants for turning me onto this wine at an event in Chicago recently.