Sorry I haven't run my mouth in a little while. I'm lazy what can I say. Many good times have been had over the last 4 months but not many of them had that WINE like what I had the other day. I spent an evening on the Island with some good peeps from work and we did it right; grilled quail and pork, Champagne, Rhone verticals, Riesling, Cali Cab, Burg and a little J here plus some Lemoncello there. At any rate, about 2/3's of the way through the night this bottle came out, which I had happened to bring (naively I admit). It was a 2004 Paolo Bea Montefalco Rosso Reserva "Pipparello". Ba-Gong!!! That shit lit it up. I mean after many bottles preceeding it this wine still made everyone stand at attention. Youthful, elegant, hypocritical in all its glory. It had this crushed-powedered-red berry-licorice thing that really enveloped the palate. But what made it sing was this silver-lining-typed acidity and grace. I didnt' get much for oak flavor and I'd expect that's exactly what the guy is going for. It made me think that the wine just happened that way. O'natural, clean but in a pure way not in a 'we filtered the shit out of it' way. Like I said, it was meant to be that way. It reminded me of some of the new things that are coming from Puzelat. I guess hypocritical to me means balanced because it touched on many things; intensity but restrained, full yet very light on the palate, rich with extreme elegance. After some research I found out that it's a small estate in Umbria that has had a Bea in or around it since 1500; roughly 25 acres, it's a blend of 60% Sangiovese, 25% Montepulciano , 15% Sagrantino, sees a good amount of time in oak but nothing heavily new and everything is done by hand and fully organic. Just for posterity's sake, I took it out to dinner last Saturday as well. Nicholas Roberts Fine Foods in Norwalk is a pretty awesome place. It's right off of #1 on Main Street and just down the street from BJ Ryan's. I had this Filet Mignon with a lobster reduction sauce, wax beans and fingerling potatos. Perfect match. Filet was spot on, potatos held up their end of the bargain and who doesn't like wax beans? Good atmosphere, BYOB which is exactly why I went (well that and the food) and not far from home. If you haven't been there yet, you NEED to check it out. Great prices and really a diamond in the rough when it comes to food in Norwalk. The Paolo Bea ripped again. Somethings are just inevitable. Keep an eye out for this producer. I'm sure it is very small production. There are a few different wines produced and I'm looking forward to trying the Sagrantino. I guess it is their top wine.
Right on. The wine was sick. Totally balanced and bright with an elegance that is unmatched in that region from what ive had so far. It rivaled a good red burg in my opinion. They both share those red fruits and nice high toned but rich palates. Cant wait to drink it again.
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