San Filippo 'Le Lucère' Brunello di Montalcino, Tuscany, Italy 2021
Regular price
$125.00
Shipping calculated at checkout.
San Filippo was founded in 1972 and was among the original roughly twenty growers who began bottling Brunello in the late 1970s, on a hillside site near the Cerbaiona and Salvioni vineyards, within sight of Biondi Santi's historic Il Greppo. The estate came into its own in 2003, when Florentine real estate broker Roberto Giannelli purchased the property with no prior winemaking background. Giannelli converted the vineyards to organic farming, cut yields significantly, and scaled back new oak use to let the Sangiovese Grosso and its terroir speak more clearly — an approach that's since made Le Lucère one of Montalcino's most consistently celebrated single-vineyard Brunellos.
- WINEMAKER: Thomas Bianciardi, with consulting enologist Paolo Caciorgna, under proprietor Roberto Giannelli
- FARMING: Certified organic
- VARIETY: 100% Sangiovese (Sangiovese Grosso)
- TERROIR: Brunello di Montalcino DOCG, from the single-vineyard Le Lucère parcel — roughly 3.5 hectares planted in 1996, at 270–310 meters elevation with east/northeast exposure, on Eocene-era clayey-calcareous soils marked by shale and marine fossil fragments.
- VINIFICATION: Fermented in stainless steel at controlled temperature, with a two-day cold pre-maceration at 10°C followed by 10–12 days of maceration at 26–28°C. Malolactic fermentation completed in cement and stainless steel vats.
- AGING: Roughly two years in a combination of large oak botti and smaller-format barrels; the estate has been gradually phasing out barrique in favor of larger, more neutral wood starting around this vintage, aiming for greater purity of fruit and terroir expression.
- TASTING NOTES: Deep ruby color, with notably more depth and fruit weight than the estate's classic bottling. Aromas of crushed black raspberry and blueberry mingle with pine and rosemary, while the palate shows wild plum and dark currant giving way to light smoke and a flinty mineral edge. Tannins are firm and tightly wound at first but show real potential to soften, carrying through a long, structured finish.
- FOOD PAIRINGS: Braised game meats, grilled venison, aged pecorino.
- SCORES: 100 points, James Suckling; 95 points, Falstaff; 94 points, Wine Advocate; 94 points, Vinous (Eric Guido)
San Filippo 'Le Lucère' Brunello di Montalcino, Tuscany, Italy 2021
Regular price
$125.00
Shipping calculated at checkout.
San Filippo was founded in 1972 and was among the original roughly twenty growers who began bottling Brunello in the late 1970s, on a hillside site near the Cerbaiona and Salvioni vineyards, within sight of Biondi Santi's historic Il Greppo. The estate came into its own in 2003, when Florentine real estate broker Roberto Giannelli purchased the property with no prior winemaking background. Giannelli converted the vineyards to organic farming, cut yields significantly, and scaled back new oak use to let the Sangiovese Grosso and its terroir speak more clearly — an approach that's since made Le Lucère one of Montalcino's most consistently celebrated single-vineyard Brunellos.
- WINEMAKER: Thomas Bianciardi, with consulting enologist Paolo Caciorgna, under proprietor Roberto Giannelli
- FARMING: Certified organic
- VARIETY: 100% Sangiovese (Sangiovese Grosso)
- TERROIR: Brunello di Montalcino DOCG, from the single-vineyard Le Lucère parcel — roughly 3.5 hectares planted in 1996, at 270–310 meters elevation with east/northeast exposure, on Eocene-era clayey-calcareous soils marked by shale and marine fossil fragments.
- VINIFICATION: Fermented in stainless steel at controlled temperature, with a two-day cold pre-maceration at 10°C followed by 10–12 days of maceration at 26–28°C. Malolactic fermentation completed in cement and stainless steel vats.
- AGING: Roughly two years in a combination of large oak botti and smaller-format barrels; the estate has been gradually phasing out barrique in favor of larger, more neutral wood starting around this vintage, aiming for greater purity of fruit and terroir expression.
- TASTING NOTES: Deep ruby color, with notably more depth and fruit weight than the estate's classic bottling. Aromas of crushed black raspberry and blueberry mingle with pine and rosemary, while the palate shows wild plum and dark currant giving way to light smoke and a flinty mineral edge. Tannins are firm and tightly wound at first but show real potential to soften, carrying through a long, structured finish.
- FOOD PAIRINGS: Braised game meats, grilled venison, aged pecorino.
- SCORES: 100 points, James Suckling; 95 points, Falstaff; 94 points, Wine Advocate; 94 points, Vinous (Eric Guido)