1985 Lisini Prefillossero
BY NEAL MARTIN |
Vines planted in their own roots is a subject that has intrigued me for a while, not least after my now infamous article on Liber Pater. The topic arose again recently with Eric Guido’s excellent piece on Tiberio’s Fonte Canale. Addressing ungrafted vines, one must not conflate recent plantings on vines’ own roots and the plots of surviving vines that predate the phylloxera louse in the late 19th century. This story is about the latter.
In the early days of my career, around 1997 or 1998, long before thoughts of writing, my Japanese employers briefly imported the wines of Lisini. I have vague recollections of visiting a vineyard and being shown extremely old, gnarly vines whose fruit went into a special cuvée. This must have been their half-hectare plot of Sangiovese planted in the mid-1800s. Surrounded by olive trees and forest, their isolation, together with sandy soils, allowed these vines to escape phylloxera. The wine was only bottled separately between 1985 and 1997 as a Vino da Tavola because, for some inexplicable reason, at that time, the rules forbade pre-phylloxera vines to be included in the DOCG. It was matured in a single barrel of Slavonian oak for one or two years, followed by another couple of years in glass demijohns.
Subscriber Access Only
or Sign Up
Vines planted in their own roots is a subject that has intrigued me for a while, not least after my now infamous article on Liber Pater. The topic arose again recently with Eric Guido’s excellent piece on Tiberio’s Fonte Canale. Addressing ungrafted vines, one must not conflate recent plantings on vines’ own roots and the plots of surviving vines that predate the phylloxera louse in the late 19th century. This story is about the latter.
