Paolo Bea Lapideus Bianco 2021

Organic / Biodynamic / Natural

93 points Vinous
The 2021 Lapideus is a deep golden hue. Its perfumed bouquet boasts incense and spice drops, freshly sliced nectarines and hints of clove. This floods the palate with round and supple textures offset by salty minerality and crisp orchard fruits. The 2021 gains a spicier personality with each passing second. It mixes sweet and sour through the contrasting finale, as tangerine and lemon rind traces fade slowly. This is beautifully balanced and exotic, having spent thirty-four days macerating on the skins and finished at just 11% abv. Fantastic.

Giampiero acquired a parcel of 80-year-old Trebbiano Spoletino in the town of Pigge di Trevi several years back, and thus with this 2014 we have an exciting new addition to the Bea lineup. Arising from a cooler microclimate than the [Arboreus], [Lapideus] spent a lengthy 35 days on it skins after pressing, followed by 210 additional days on the gross lees a similar vinification to [Arboreus,] yet one that yielded entirely different results. Though no less deeply amber in its appearance, [Lapideus] has a leaner, racier carriage than the broad-shouldered [Arboreus,] with more filigree, a less overwhelmingly intense nose of apricots, cloves, and candied ginger. If [Arboreus?] is a sea to swim in, [Lapideus] is a rocket to ride, emphasizing drive and lift over layered density. It is still a wine of impressive power, especially given its modest 12% alcohol, but the fruit is more direct, pure, and foregrounded. So often the so-called [orange wines] seem to stand alone, iconoclastic creations that defy fine-tuned peer-group comparisons and revel in their singular personalities. Even the discourse that surrounds them tends to treat them more as wines of technique than wines of terroir. Thus, it is fascinating to experience the same grape variety given roughly the same treatment by the same grower, whereby the differences in the wines are largely driven by the differences in their underlying places of origin. - Importer