Wine: Lisini: Brunello di Montalcino “Ugoliai” DOCG (Single-vineyard)

Tuscany

Tuscany continues to charm and enchant the world over while books and films are forever trying to capture the beauty and mystic of the region. With its rich history, art, music, food and wine, there is very little to disappoint. Chianti is easily the most well known of Italian wines while Brunello is considered one of the most prestigious. Yet, the wines of Tuscany have not always been recognized for quality and have just recently experienced a renaissance,
after years of being focused on quantity. The initial movement developed in Chianti in the early 1970’s has become a region wide effort that has brought forth serious focus on clonal selection, vineyard management, and winery technologies, allowing a progression in quality unmatched anywhere in the country. The growing success, while focused on the Sangiovese based wines of Chianti, Brunello di Montalcino and most recently, Vino Nobile di Montepulciano,
has spread to the entire region incorporating areas not understood even 30 years ago for their potential.
This phenomena of rapidly improving quality spread to incorporate wines that while not DOC were still considered of superior quality. The lack of an official status could not prevent the unofficial designation “Super Tuscan” from becoming part of the vernacular. As awareness increased, many of these wines achieved their own IGT or DOC status. Ironically, it is often misunderstood that Cabernet and Chardonnay have a long history within Tuscany and were
not introduced to satisfy international demand. Cabernet has been grown for over 250 years and while maybe not known by the Romans it certainly isn’t a newcomer to the region!
(Chardonnay dates back easily 150 years).
Roughly 70% of the production is red but one white wine holds its own in quality. The DOCG for Vernaccia di San Gimagnano was the 1st awarded to ANY wine in Italy. A historical grape documented in the 1200’s, the wines today provide the perfect counterpart to the nobile
reds of Tuscany.

Lisini

The Lisini estate, now covering a total of 380 acres and comprising some of the finest, most historical terrains in the Montalcino appellation, has been in the Lisini family since the early 1700s. Today, owner Elina Lisini is flanked by her grandsons Lorenzo and Carlo. Winery manager is Filippo Paoletti, and the winemaker is a living legend of Tuscan wines, Giulio Gambelli.
The present vineyard surface is 44.5 acres (18 ha.), all steeped in the area’s most beautiful and wildest landscape: gently rolling woodland and vineyards, wild boars and deer, high up at 980 to 1,310 feet above sea level. Getting there isn’t easy for city people: winding dirt roads bordered by thick vegetation, a sense of time suspended, surroundings meant for the comfort of pheasants and hedgehogs and grapes rather than modern-day motorists. Your reward at the end of the road is this stone and terracotta icon of tranquility and harmony, the Lisini villa with its 14th-century tower – seamlessly blending into the estate’s natural backdrop.

From the superlative Ugolaia cru, a 3.7-acre, southeast-facing vineyard by the same name, planted in 1978 with severely selected grafts (top grafted onto wild vines by the Lisini team’s senior experts). Crops are 1.1 kilo per rootstock, and élevage is 36 months in Slavonian oak barrels (11-20 hl.), followed by 18 months’ bottle age. Juicy, velvety, flavorful, classically leather, licorice, black and red fruit with touches of smoke, minerals, earth and spices… This superb Brunello is full and formidable, with silky tannins and a mellow, lingering finish.

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