Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
-
Wine Enthusiast
Delicious and full-bodied, this offers aromas of pine forest, spiced plum, leather and fragrant purple flowers. On the enveloping palate, noble tannins support ripe Morello cherry, raspberry jam and baking spice before a licorice close. Drink 2027–2032.
-
Decanter
Located in the southern reaches of the Montalcino zone, near Sant’Angelo in Colle, Lisini is one of the last in the area to harvest. The wines are full-figured, sumptuous and densely packed yet remain wondrously light on their feet. The 2017, which was harvested between the end of September and beginning of October, is no exception. Dripping with ripe cherries and plums, it is a seductive, rather fruit-driven wine shored up by luscious acidity. Clayey tannins wrap around the palate with an iron grip and just a hint of dryness is absorbed by plush, pulpy fruit. This is hard to resist now. Drinking Window 2023 - 2030
-
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The Lisini 2017 Brunello di Montalcino (with 30,000 bottles made) has some of the baked blackberry aromas and cherry liqueur that are characteristics of this dry and hot growing season. The wine opens to a darkly saturated appearance, and it follows up with tarry smoke, licorice root, crushed stone and potting soil. The wine's personality reflects autumnal flavors of forest floor and balsam herb.
-
Wine Spectator
A rich version, this red reveals cherry, raspberry, rose, mineral and wild herb aromas and flavors, backed by a solid matrix of tannins. Firms up on the finish, yet remains fresh and long, echoing the red fruit and wild herb notes. Best from 2024.
-
James Suckling
This shows aromas of very ripe cherries and berries. Full-bodied, very tannic and powerful. Chewy and intense. Berry and citrus character at the finish. It should come around. Try after 2024 when the tannins will have softened.
Among Italy's elite red grape varieties, Sangiovese has the perfect intersection of bright red fruit and savory earthiness and is responsible for the best red wines of Tuscany. While it is best known as the chief component of Chianti, it is also the main grape in Vino Nobile di Montepulciano and reaches the height of its power and intensity in the complex, long-lived Brunello di Montalcino. Somm Secret—Sangiovese doubles under the alias, Nielluccio, on the French island of Corsica where it produces distinctly floral and refreshing reds and rosés.
Famous for its bold, layered and long-lived red, Brunello di Montalcino, the town of Montalcino is about 70 miles south of Florence, and has a warmer and drier climate than that of its neighbor, Chianti. The Sangiovese grape is king here, as it is in Chianti, but Montalcino has its own clone called Brunello.
The Brunello vineyards of Montalcino blanket the rolling hills surrounding the village and fan out at various elevations, creating the potential for Brunello wines expressing different styles. From the valleys, where deeper deposits of clay are found, come wines typically bolder, more concentrated and rich in opulent black fruit. The hillside vineyards produce wines more concentrated in red fruits and floral aromas; these sites reach up to over 1,600 feet and have shallow soils of rocks and shale.
Brunello di Montalcino by law must be aged a minimum of four years, including two years in barrel before realease and once released, typically needs more time in bottle for its drinking potential to be fully reached. The good news is that Montalcino makes a “baby brother” version. The wines called Rosso di Montalcino are often made from younger vines, aged for about a year before release, offer extraordinary values and are ready to drink young.