The 2003 Montefalco Rosso is a blend of 60% Sangiovese, 25% Montepulciano and 15% Sagrantino grown in the Pipparello vineyard. It is a silky-textured offering with remarkable clarity in its sweet red fruit, tobacco and spices. Made in a more understated style than the Sagrantino, it offers notable detail and nuance. It should continue to develop beautifully in bottle. Anticipated maturity: 2008-2023. Paolo Bea's wines represent the finest of the artisan approach to winemaking. Bea farms his vineyards naturally. The wines are made in a traditional style that calls for extended periods of skin contact and several years of aging. At their best these are finessed expressive wines of the highest level in a style that recalls the Brunellos of Gianfranco Soldera or the Barolos of Giuseppe Rinaldi, to name just two producers with a similar aesthetic. Importer: Rosenthal Wine Merchants, Pine Plains, NY; tel. (800) 910-1990

The 1991 Rosso di Montefalco is an exotic, late harvest, ripe, chewy, alcoholic wine with considerable thickness and texture. Its aromas and flavors range from herbs and melted road tar, to overripe jammy black-cherry fruit. It is a wine to drink with cheese at the end of a meal. I have had Paolo Bea's wines in the past and they are both controversial and incredibly variable in quality and character. These wines elicit a similar reaction as those of the Coturri brothers in Sonoma. Readers will be divided between bestowing them with extraordinary admiration or outright condemnation. Their exaggerated, distinctive and funky styles guarantee plenty of controversy. Importer: Neal Rosenthal. His selections can be purchased at his retail shop in Manhattan (tel. 212-249-6650 and fax 212-744-3354). His address is P.O. Box 658, Route 83, Shekomeko, NY 12567; telephone 800-910-1990.