2017 Brunello di Montalcino, Ugolaia, Lisini, Tuscany, Italy
Critics reviews
Dark woodland berries, pine and crushed rocks form an understated bouquet. The 2017 Brunello di Montalcino Ugolaia is soft and round with a tart wave of ripe raspberry and mineral tones that penetrate deeply as zesty acidity works to maintain balance. Orange and exotic spice notes, along with gritty tannins, add cheek-puckering tension as the 2017 finishes long and stains with a lavender tinge. This is nicely balanced for the year and has excellent tannin management, which isn't often the case from the 2017 vintage.
Drink 2025 - 2033
Eric Guido, Vinous.com (November 2023)
Lustrous, deep ruby with orange tinges. Minerally and brooding on the nose and still quite closed. Lots of suave yet tangy fruit. A little bit massive right now but hugely promising with firm but super-refined tannins. Long, layered and sappy finish. Stunning, but not ready by far.
Drink 2022 - 2036
Walter Speller, JancisRobinson.com (November 2022)
Full-bodied with ripe and dried cherries, spiced plums, chocolate and blueberries, supported by polished tannins. Well-integrated spice and dried flowers, too. It is ripe and expansive, with a soft and mellow texture that makes it very approachable and satisfying.
Drink or hold
James Suckling, JamesSuckling.com (December 2022)
Lisini’s single-vineyard selection is its usual exotic self in 2017. It opens with a heady mix of incense, juniper, pressed lilac and lavender. There's also that polished wood nuance which I associate with the wine finishing in chestnut cask for six months. Even more dense than the estate’s annata Brunello, the hearty palate presents flavours of myrtle and currants offset by an appetising inner saline core. This boasts gusto and chew, and those sizeable tannins demand another year in the bottle but are admirably lush. Definitely one of the vintage’s successes.
Drink 2024 - 2034
Michaela Morris, Decanter.com (November 2022)
About this WINE
Lisini, Tuscany
The history of Lisini dates to the time of the Medicis. This is one of Montalcino’s oldest estates, and a founding member of the Corsorzio del Vino Brunello di Montalcino. Lisini is one of the few producers in Sant’Angelo in Colle, in the south-west of Montalcino.
The proximity here to Maremma gives maritime breezes warding against summer heat, which is especially important in as hot and dry a year as 2017. Thick woodland, olive groves and wild scrubs surround the 25 hectares under vine – a rural haven of the region’s finest terroir. An ancient river system sculpted the area, and with it the complex soils in Lisini’s vineyards. Fossil laced sand, clay and iron-rich soils, paired with altitudes of 300-400 metres, all play a leading role in the unique personality of Lisini’s wines.
Brunello di Montalcino
Along with Chianti, Brunello di Montalcino is Tuscany's most famous DOCG and the region's boldest expression of Sangiovese. Located 30 miles south of Siena with the hilltop town of Montalcino as its epicentre, its 2,000 hectares of vines are naturally delimited by the Orcia, Asso and Ombrone valleys. Brunello is the local name for the Sangiovese Grosso clone from which Brunello di Montalcino should be made in purezza (ie 100 percent).
The Brunello di Montalcino DOCG has a whale-like shape: at its head, at 661 metres above sea level on ancient, stony galestro soils facing east and southeast lies the town of Montalcino, where the DOC was founded. As you follow the spine south towards the tail, the vineyards lose altitude – those around Colle Sant'Angelo are at 250 metres – while the soils become richer with iron and clay. Further east, in the shadow of the 1,734 metre Mont'Amiata lies the village of Castelnuovo dell'Abate where the vineyards are strewn with a rich mix of galestro, granitic, volcanic, clay and schist soil types.
Historically, the zone is one of Tuscany's youngest. First praised in 1550 by Leandro Alberti for the quality of its wines, it was Tenuta Il Greppo who bottled the inaugural Brunello di Montalcino in 1888. By 1929, the region had 925 hectares of vines and 1,243 hectares of mixed crops, while in 1932 it was decreed that only those wines made and bottled within the commune could be labelled as Brunello di Montalcino. Since then, the number of producers has risen from 11 in 1960 to 230 in 2006, while over the same period the vineyards have expanded from 1,000 hectares to 12,000. The region earned its DOC in 1966, and was upgraded to DOCG in 1980.
Brunello di Montalcino cannot be released for sale until five years after the harvest, or six years in the case of Brunello di Montalcino Riserva. During this time the wines should be aged for at least two years in oak, followed by at least four months in bottle (six months for Riservas); maximum yields are 55 hl/ha.
Rosso di Montalcino is declassified Brunello di Montalcino, released for sale 18 months after the harvest.
Recommended producers: Costanti, Fuligni, Lisini, San Giuseppe, Soldera, Cerbaiona
Sangiovese
A black grape widely grown in Central Italy and the main component of Chianti and Vino Nobile di Montepulciano as well as being the sole permitted grape for the famed Brunello di Montalcino.
It is a high yielding, late ripening grape that performs best on well-drained calcareous soils on south-facing hillsides. For years it was blighted by poor clonal selection and massive overcropping - however since the 1980s the quality of Sangiovese-based wines has rocketed upwards and they are now some of the most sought after in the world.
It produces wines with pronounced tannins and acidity, though not always with great depth of colour, and its character can vary from farmyard/leather nuances through to essence of red cherries and plums. In the 1960s the advent of Super Tuscans saw bottlings of 100% Sangiovese wines, as well as the introduction of Sangiovese/Cabernet Sauvignon blends, the most famous being Tignanello.
When is a wine ready to drink?
We provide drinking windows for all our wines. Alongside the drinking windows there is a bottle icon and a maturity stage. Bear in mind that the best time to drink a wine does also depend on your taste.
Not ready
These wines are very young. Whilst they're likely to have lots of intense flavours, their acidity or tannins may make them feel austere. Although it isn't "wrong" to drink these wines now, you are likely to miss out on a lot of complexity by not waiting for them to mature.
Ready - youthful
These wines are likely to have plenty of fruit flavours still and, for red wines, the tannins may well be quite noticeable. For those who prefer younger, fruitier wines, or if serving alongside a robust meal, these will be very enjoyable. If you choose to hold onto these wines, the fruit flavours will evolve into more savoury complexity.
Ready - at best
These wines are likely to have a beautiful balance of fruit, spice and savoury flavours. The acidity and tannins will have softened somewhat, and the wines will show plenty of complexity. For many, this is seen as the ideal time to drink and enjoy these wines. If you choose to hold onto these wines, they will become more savoury but not necessarily more complex.
Ready - mature
These wines are likely to have plenty of complexity, but the fruit flavours will have been almost completely replaced by savoury and spice notes. These wines may have a beautiful texture at this stage of maturity. There is lots to enjoy when drinking wines at this stage. Most of these wines will hold in this window for a few years, though at the very end of this drinking window, wines start to lose complexity and decline.
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Description
This prized single vineyard has Lisini’s oldest vines, naturally low yielding giving powerful Sangiovese from the mineral-laden iron-rich soils. A strict selection of the best fruit is further emphasized in the cantina, revealing the heights of the 2017 vintage. This was a hot year, counterbalanced by the site’s altitude of 500 metres and nearby forest.
The wine has undergone 48 months in large, 40hl Pauchis botti. The trophy of the 2017 vintage, this is at the very pinnacle of the region and illustrative of the resilience of great terroir and Lisini’s ultra-classical winemaking. It needs a little time.
Drink 2030 - 2060
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