The Cellar: The Making of a World Class Wine

Friday, September 18, 2015

Steffen Rasch, GoLocalWorcester Wine Writer

Once in a while I get the opportunity to taste rare and exclusive wines. I recently had such an experience when I sampled an iconic wine by the name of ‘Luce’, made by Tenuta Luce delle Vite; an award-winning Italian Estate that is a joint venture between two famous wine families; Tuscan producer Marchesi de’ Frescobaldi and California based Robert Mondavi.

The Tenuta Luce delle Vite Estate is located southwest of the Tuscan hillside village of Montalcino; home of the prestigious Brunello di Montalcino. The Estate’s vineyards have roughly 200 acres under vine and sit at elevations of 1.300 to 1.500 feet, the highest vineyard sites in Montalcino. Sustainable agriculture honors the unique slate and rocky limestone soils, yielding elegant Sangiovese and round, supple Merlot. While some of the vineyards date back to 1977, the majority were planted at the beginning of 1997. From these vines four great wines are produced; a small amount of Brunello, two Sangiovese/Merlot blends and a Grappa made from the skins of the leftover Sangiovese and Merlot grapes.

I featured their entre-level blend ‘Lucente’ approximately two years ago. This time around I got my hands on their top wine; the 2011 ‘Luce’; a single vineyard red blend that was awarded 95 points from Wine Spectator who also declared it the 47th best wine released in 2014. At $90ish per bottle this wine is a ‘special occasion wine’ for my budget (gift, anniversary, etc.), but one that deserves its heavy price tag. This wine is truly remarkable.

Lamberto Frescobaldi

The winemaker’s name is Lamberto Frescobaldi, who is also the VP of the company. Only 74.000 bottles of the 2011 vintage were produced, which saw 4 weeks of maceration on the skins before it was aged for 24 months in oak barrels, of which 85% were new. So, as you may be able to imagine this is a massive wine; a wine that probably shouldn’t even be opened yet. If you do decide to break it open make sure to aerate for at least an hour.

Upon opening, the wine brims of a complex array of rich and dark black fruits with hints of earth and sweet vanilla. On the initial taste the wine is mouth-puckering dry with powerful tannins. Hints of what is to come with aeration lurk in the background, those being succulent dark berries, juicy red cherries, mint and tasty vanilla coated oak. After a half-hour in the glass the tannins begins to soften and the wine starts to open up. The bombastic fruit mellows while complex savory notes emerge. Overall this wine is powerful and complex - exactly what you would expect for ninety bucks!

Cheers,

Steffen Rasch is a Certified Sommelier and Specialist of Wine. Feel free to email him at [email protected] with any wine-related questions or learn about wine in person by signing up for one of his tastings at the Providence Wine Academy.

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