Cerrete Sagrantino di Montefalco

Truly one of Italy’s best red wines every year. Prune, balsamic, wild herbs.

Planted entirely to Sagrantino, “Cerrete” is a very special vineyard in Montefalco as it occupies the highest point in the DOC where it’s drier and cooler than Pagliaro. Typically, this is Bea’s most dense, most savage expression of Sagrantino di Montefalco. I can confirm that is the case for this wine.

Poured into a decanter about an hour before service; enjoyed over the course of several hours. The 2010 pours a deep garnet color near opaque core; medium+ viscosity with significant staining of the tears. On the nose, the wine is developing and, true to varietal form, overwhelmingly sanguine. Remarkable notes of demi-glacé, tart black cherry, and black plum, blood, the smell of a flower nursery’s greenhouse, and dry underbrush. On the palate, the wine is bone dry with high tannin and medium+ acid. Confirming the notes from the nose. The finish is impossibly long, iron rich and savory.

An absolutely brutal wine and positively stunning. This is awesome if you have the patience to allow it to open up however this will be better towards the end of this decade and drink well through 2045, easy. Bottle No. 0996/6111.

The 2015 Montefalco Sagrantino Cerrete wafts up with a smoky burst of camphor that blows off to reveal a pretty mix of wild strawberries, dried roses, cinnamon and peppery herbs. This is silky yet cool-toned in feel, with a pleasant twang of sour citrus up front that gives way to vivid tart cherries. It's potent and staining, but also full of energy, with vibrant acids and a mineral underpinning that both pepper yet also soothe the senses. The 2015 finishes incredibly long, with balsamic tones and exotic spices that seem to last for up to a minute. Silky tannins coat the palate at first then slowly melt away and create a sense of total inner harmony. With a few years of cellaring, I expect the 2015 Cerrete to be a total knockout. Of note, there will not be a 2013 or 2014 Cerrete. (Eric Guido, Vinous, November 2022)

The 2011 Montefalco Sagrantino Cerrete is airy and fresh, with smoky notes of mint and dried roses slowly giving way to red currants, cigar box and hints of balsamic spice. This is a textural masterpiece, silky and playful yet bold, washing mineral-laced red berries across a medium-bodied structural core of bright acids, as nuances of spiced citrus add further contrasts. The 2011 becomes almost salty through the finale, where inner earth and tobacco tones linger. While structured, the tannins are in perfect harmony. That said, waiting is recommended because this beauty has the balance to age for decades. The 2011 vintage was incredibly warm, where grapes started to raisin on the vine, yet with rose-colored berries in the middle. There was an extreme loss in quantity due to strict selection, and the wine spent 52 days macerating on the skins. (Eric Guido, Vinous, November 2022)

It’s big and burly needless to say but the tannins have been sanded down to a fairly finely grained structure with some bottle time. Fruit profile is big, baked and dried, with dried herbs and warm dusty earth. Surprising amount of acid. Needs a very robust food pairing but damned impressive

Oh…wow…it was my brother-in-law’s birthday and he asked the local Rosenthal distributor for a recommendation on what to buy (and drink) to celebrate. This was their recommendation! And while I applaud their impeccable taste, I wish this had been thrown into a decanter the day before! My first experience with Bea’s “Cerrete”. Popped and poured; consumed far too quickly (within 90 minutes). The wine pours a deep garnet. This wine is high intensity with some noticeable VA. It smells like a wine from the Woodland realm, with rich dark fruit, wood, blue and purple flowers, exotic spices, and balsamic notes. On the palate, ripe dark fruit mixed with tart cherries and baking spices. Substantial structure; high tannin and super dry with high acid. The finish was impossibly long. The only unfortunate thing about the experience was it was cut way too short as I feel the best was yet to come if we had decanted. Never the less, it was a remarkable, rustic wine that I hope to have another experience with in the future. Bottle number 1815 of 3993.

Il Maestro.

Wow! Just an absolute stunner. Price point is solid. This is a rich, cherry fruit based wine that is relatively silky and very approachable which is surprising given the grape. Great stuff.

First Bea Cerette. Worth the hype-

Very good but too young. Tannins not balanced yet and abv too high 15%. It needs more cellaring. But all in all it is very good, fruity without being jammy, mouthfull, to join any good food. Only 4.000 bts