Debut of Paolo Bea’s Newest Legendary Offerings plus a Special $26 Sicilian Marvel Created by Bea’s.

Paolo Bea gave his name to one of the earliest natural wineries in Italy, though those who knew him will tell you he loved his cows even more than his vines. Farmer, cattleman, and vine-pruner by both trade and passion. It was Gianpiero, Paolo’s son, beginning several decades ago, who took what had been a small, self-sufficient family farm and transformed it into a respected estate—an emblem of the early natural wine movement and of “gentle agriculture.” In 2004, Giampiero was among the founders of ViniVeri, Real Wines, a pioneering natural wine consortium.

The winery has always carried Paolo’s name, even though he was never a fervent winemaker himself. He was not a domineering patriarch; though the family lived with modest means, he never allowed them to go without. His true legacy was not bottles or brands but the lessons he left about land, farming, and a life shaped by the Umbrian hills. His name on the winery’s sign remains a tribute to a man of simplicity and dignity.

Paolo’s love for Sagrantino was visceral. “He had a profound respect for the land, which he passed on to me,” recalls Giampiero. Yet Paolo never had the ambition to bottle the wine. His life was defined by subsistence: about twenty Chianina cattle, a pair of sows, two sheep for cheese. Animals were his first passion, a responsibility that left him little free time. He would tend to the vines, then immediately to the calves, the stables, the breeding. He was in other words, the noblest of all of us, a man devoted and connected to his land and nature.

It was Giampiero who finally bottled the first 700 bottles, drawn from a single 500-liter cask. With his eye for design, he created the now-iconic labels, and with his training as an architect, he built a modern cellar where the violet hues of drying grapes stand out against muted walls. “My father didn’t believe much in bottled wine,” Giampiero admits, “but he respected my intuition. That is his second great teaching.”

For the past two decades, the wines of Paolo and Giampiero Bea have stood as guiding lights for a generation of winemakers, proving that true greatness begins not in the cellar but in the understanding, nourishment, and reverence for the land itself. If there were a pantheon of legends in artisanal, soulful wine—bottles that embody their plot of earth and cultural heritage with raw honesty—Bea’s wines would stand shoulder to shoulder with the very greatest in the world, not only Italy. These are not wines for the timid or the casual drinker seeking predictability; they are for the seeker, the connoisseur, the one who comes to the table with humility and gratitude, ready to be transformed. Each bottle offers not just pleasure but the possibility of revelation.

The 2021 Paolo Bea Santa Chiara Umbria Bianco is the estate’s golden-hued field blend of Trebbiano, Malvasia, Grechetto, Garganega, and Sauvignon, a wine that embodies both tradition and daring. With several weeks of skin contact, it unfurls layers of orchard fruit, dried herbs, orange peel, wildflower honey, and a saline minerality, framed by a supple yet gripping texture. The 2021 vintage delivers particular freshness and lift, balancing richness with vibrancy, making it both immediately captivating and capable of further evolution in bottle. A wine that speaks fluently of Umbrian hills and Bea’s uncompromising philosophy, it is as much a cultural artifact as a drink.

Best price $67.99

The 2016 Paolo & Giampiero Bea Arboreus Trebbiano Spoletino is one of Umbria’s most singular white wines, made from ancient, pre-phylloxera vines trained as trees (hence Arboreus). Fermented on the skins for over three weeks and aged extensively in steel and bottle before release, it emerges as a textural, amber-hued wine that blurs the line between white and red. In 2016, it shows layers of dried apricot, chamomile, spice, honeycomb, and saline minerality, with a deep, almost tannic structure that gives it remarkable aging potential. Profoundly soulful and unmistakably Bea, it’s less a wine to drink quickly than an experience to contemplate—one of the world’s benchmark skin-contact whites.

Best price $69.99

The 2022 Paolo & Giampiero Bea Cotidie Umbria Rosso is the estate’s most approachable red, crafted to be a wine of daily joy (cotidie meaning “everyday”). A blend of indigenous Umbrian grapes, it is fermented naturally and raised without manipulation, resulting in a vibrant, unfiltered expression of pure fruit and earth. The 2022 shows lively red cherry, plum, wild herbs, and a gentle rustic spice, carried by soft tannins and a refreshing, food-friendly structure. While lighter and more immediate than the grand Sagrantinos, Cotidie still bears the Bea signature of authenticity and soulful drinkability—an honest taste of Umbrian tradition meant to be shared.

Best price $67.99

The 2019 Paolo Bea Rosso de Veo Umbria Rosso is the purest window into young- vine Sagrantino from the Bea estate, drawn from younger parcels in Montefalco. True to the house style, it undergoes a long maceration on the skins and extended élevage, yielding a deep, structured wine with lifted aromatics of blackberry, wild plum, tobacco, sweet herbs, and earthy spice. In 2019 it shows remarkable balance—grippy but not harsh, powerful yet laced with freshness—making it both an earlier-drinking alternative to Bea’s monumental Sagrantinos and a wine of real cellar potential. It is unmistakably Bea: soulful, uncompromising, and a testament to Sagrantino’s nobility.

Best price $89.99

The 2019 Paolo Bea Pagliaro Montefalco Sagrantino Secco is the flagship expression of Bea’s philosophy, drawn from the heart of the family’s oldest and most storied vineyard. Fermented with native yeasts and given extended maceration before years of slow élevage, it emerges as a towering yet soulful Sagrantino: dense with blackberry, black cherry, licorice, tobacco, wild herbs, and an earthy graphite core. The 2019 vintage delivers both immense structure and surprising poise, with the grape’s legendary tannins wrapped in a cloak of purity and depth that promises decades of evolution. It is not merely a wine but an epic narrative in liquid form—an Umbrian monument that rewards patience and reverence.

Best price $114.99

Il Censo is a 65-hectare estate in Bivona, Sicily, owned by Gaetano and Nicoletta Gargano who lineage to the land dates back 200 years). Over 25 years ago Gaetano met Giampiero Bea, and, inspired by the Bea family’s work in Montefalco, he asked Bea to guide the revival of Il Censo.

Under Giampiero Bea’s direction, Il Censo has planted vineyards (initially 5 hectares, later an additional 4) with varieties such as Catarratto, Perricone, Nero d’Avola, and Malvasia Nera. The farming is fully organic (certified since 2014), with biodynamic practices in some cases, and the winemaking follows Bea’s natural wine principles: estate fruit only, manual harvest, indigenous yeasts, skin contact fermentations and minimal sulfur, no fining or filtration. 

Giampiero Bea isn’t just a consultant in name: he shapes both vineyard work and cellar practices at Il Censo, ensuring that the resulting wines reflect the volcanic soils, high altitude, and old world, low-intervention philosophy for which he is known. 

Today we have the honor of presenting the first of many gems we’ll showcase in the year ahead. This Nero d’Avola, crafted under the full guidance, mentorship, and hands-on direction of Giampiero Bea, not only bears a label reminiscent of Bea but also embodies the same spirit: a deep communion with the land, allowing nature to give and humans simply to shepherd it into bottle—the Bea way.

The 2018 700 Nero d’Avola Terre Siciliane Rosso is a striking, artisanal expression of Sicily’s noble red grape, crafted in tiny quantities with a focus on purity and authenticity. Grown at altitude, the fruit shows lifted aromatics of black cherry, wild plum, Mediterranean herbs, and a touch of spice, framed by freshness and fine, chalky tannins that set it apart from more commercial renditions of Nero d’Avola. The 2018 vintage carries both ripeness and poise, offering a supple mid-palate yet a long, mineral-etched finish. Rare and soulful, this is a bottle that speaks not of mass production but of careful hands and a deep respect for Sicilian terroir.

Best price $25.99

Wine is in the US and will be ready for delivery in within a few weeks