<p class="wysiwyg-text-align-center"><b>1985 Lisini Prefillossero</b></p>

<p>BY NEAL MARTIN |&nbsp;SEPTEMBER 02, 2024</p><p><span>Vines planted in
their own roots is a subject that has intrigued me for a while, not least after
my now infamous <a target="_blank" href="https://vinous.com/articles/going-back-to-my-roots-putting-liber-pater-in-context-jun-2023">article
on Liber Pater</a>. The topic arose again recently with Eric Guido’s excellent
piece on <a target="_blank" href="https://vinous.com/articles/fonte-canale-redefining-trebbiano-d-abruzzo-aug-2024">Tiberio’s
Fonte Canale</a>.<b> </b>Addressing
ungrafted vines,<b> </b>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.</span></p>

<p>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&nbsp;by another couple
of years in glass demijohns.</p><p><img alt="" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/images.vinous.com/uploads%2F1725031783108-CF+-+1985+Lisini+Prefillossero+%281%29.jpg"></p><p>After 1997, the
fruit was reintroduced into the mass for Brunello until the vineyard was no
longer worth maintaining because of its hard-to-reach location for treatments
and very low production. In the early 2000s, the Regione Toscana gave Lisini
the opportunity to uproot the 20 vines left and still keep the rights to
replant the original surface of the vineyard. Lisini used the rights but in a
different plot. The location of the vineyard made it very hard to reach and
cultivate.<br></p>

<p>Over the years,
Lisini took cuttings from the vines to propagate them on American rootstock.
Unfortunately, these vines began to die off. They suggest that even grafted
vines eventually lose their resistance to phylloxera in the same way that
antibiotics lose their ability to protect us from infections. If that is true,
it would be catastrophic for the global wine industry.</p>

<p><span>I was lucky to have
the opportunity to taste the maiden <b>1985 Prefillossero</b> during my trip to
Japan in July, a bottle that a friend kindly kept for me. Apparently, hardly
any bottles remain in Lisini’s own reserves. It shows modest bricking on the
rim. The bouquet is enchanting, reminding me of a Pessac-Léognan of a similar
age. Red fruit mixes with damp loam, forest floor and just the faintest touch
of camphor. It opens gloriously in the glass – utterly seductive. The palate
continues with that Pessac entwined with Brunello theme, showing pliant tannins
and quite fleshy, perfectly judged acidity. It unfolds with layers of red
fruit, cedar and hints of espresso, with a dab of allspice on the finish. I was
smitten by this extraordinarily rare wine, and on the subway back to Ikebukuro,
I rued the fact that it is no longer made. Anyone lucky enough to have any
bottles in the cellar would be advised to enjoy it now, but based on this
showing, it will easily last another two decades. <b>95</b>/Drink 2024-2040.</span></p><p></p><div><div></div></div><p></p><div><div><p><i>© 2024, Vinous. No portion of this article may be copied, shared or re-distributed without prior consent from Vinous. Doing so is not only a violation of our copyright, but also threatens the survival of independent wine criticism.</i></p></div></div>

Content

Engage

Vinous

Social