{"title":"Two Crops: Montalcino's Biggest Harvest, And Its Frost Year","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0688\/5251\/4989\/files\/Week_of_7-26-26-2.png?v=1785000328\" alt=\"\"\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eVintage charts tell you 2019 was a great year in Montalcino and 2021 was a hard one. The reason is crop size. 2019 produced 98,407 hectoliters, the largest harvest the appellation saw between 2019 and 2023. Then April 2021 brought frost on the 7th through the 9th, and again on the 15th. Vineyards below 250 meters lost as much as 35% of their fruit. So we pulled two producers and poured each of them in both years. Same vines, same soil, same cellar, same people — the variable is how much fruit was hanging. Lisini and Uccelliera farm different corners of Montalcino at different heights, and that turns out to matter more than the vintage headline.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sipnyc.com\/products\/lisini-brunello-di-montalcino-2019-750ml?_pos=1\u0026amp;_sid=c5e93399f\u0026amp;_ss=r\" title=\"LISINI BRUNELLO DI MONTALCINO 2019\"\u003eLisini Brunello di Montalcino 2019\u003c\/a\u003e comes from one of the appellation's oldest families. The Lisini-Clementi line has held land here since the 1500s, and the estate tower dates to the 1300s. Lisini helped found the Brunello consorzio in 1967. In 1970 Elina Lisini became its first woman president. The estate's twenty-odd hectares sit at 300 to 350 meters below Sant'Angelo in Colle, in the zone of Sesta. The rows open south toward the Maremma, which keeps the site dry and ventilated. Fruit is 100% Sangiovese from the estate's own massal selection. Fermentation happens in glass-lined cement tanks with 20 to 26 days on the skins. The wine then spends 42 months in Slavonian casks of 20 to 52 hectoliters. Expect chestnut, iron, red rose and sunbaked earth over fleshy persimmon and ripe strawberry. Wine Spectator scored it 97. It's $69.99.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sipnyc.com\/products\/lisini-brunello-di-montalcino-2021?_pos=2\u0026amp;_sid=c5e93399f\u0026amp;_ss=r\" title=\"LISINI BRUNELLO DI MONTALCINO 2021\"\u003eLisini Brunello di Montalcino 2021\u003c\/a\u003e is the control in this experiment. Lisini produced 40,000 bottles in 2019 and 40,000 bottles again in 2021. The frost that cut the appellation by roughly 15% barely registered here. Lisini's lowest vines start at 300 meters, above the band that took the damage. Everything else stayed constant — same massal-selection Sangiovese, same cement tanks, same 20 to 26 days on skins. The wine again spent 42 months in large Slavonian casks and six to eight months in bottle, and saw no new oak. What changed is the growing season, and you can taste it. This is cooler and tighter than the 2019, with crushed violet, lavender, dried orange peel and a flick of iodine. Wild raspberry and Marasca cherry sit under thick, dusty tannins. Wine Spectator gave it 97 as well. Wait until 2028. It's $81.99.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sipnyc.com\/products\/uccelliera-brunello-di-montalcino-2019-750ml?_pos=3\u0026amp;_sid=f9dc04e26\u0026amp;_ss=r\" title=\"UCCELLIERA BRUNELLO DI MONTALCINO 2019\"\u003eUccelliera Brunello di Montalcino 2019\u003c\/a\u003e comes from the opposite corner of the hill. Andrea Cortonesi bought this estate from Ciacci Piccolomini in 1986 and farms about ten hectares at Castelnuovo dell'Abate. Monte Amiata stands as a natural barrier to the southeast. Marine breezes rise up the Orcia river valley. The vineyards run from 150 to 350 meters on calcareous clay heavy with sand, marl and crumbled fossils. Cortonesi destems under dry ice, holds the fruit cold for seven or eight days, then lets indigenous yeast start on its own. He has used no selected yeast since 2003. The 2019 ripened slowly after a wet winter and a summer without heat spikes, and picking began 25 September. Look for crushed cherry, cedar, dried bay leaf, black pepper and a chalky grip. Jeb Dunnuck scored it 96. It's $74.99.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sipnyc.com\/products\/uccelliera-brunello-di-montalcino-2021?_pos=2\u0026amp;_sid=f9dc04e26\u0026amp;_ss=r\" title=\"UCCELLIERA BRUNELLO DI MONTALCINO 2021\"\u003eUccelliera Brunello di Montalcino 2021\u003c\/a\u003e is the one bottle here the frost actually reached. Because Cortonesi's plots drop to 150 meters, part of the estate sits inside the damage band. His own vintage notes record vegetative trauma and uneven bud development, but no irreversible harm. A warm, dry summer with steady day-night temperature swings then evened the ripening back out. He picked from 20 September, five days ahead of 2019. Production fell from 36,000 bottles to 34,733 — a smaller gap than the vintage's reputation suggests. The cellar work was unchanged: dry ice, a cold week, wild yeast, 25 to 30 days on skins, then at least 24 months in Slavonian and French oak of assorted sizes. The result is wild strawberry, dried violet, anise and polished leather over chalky, angular tannins. Suckling, Dunnuck and Wine Spectator all gave it 96. It's $76.99.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"uccelliera-brunello-di-montalcino-2019-750ml","title":"UCCELLIERA BRUNELLO DI MONTALCINO 2019","description":"A small Montalcino estate with just over a dozen hectares under vine, Uccelliera consistently ranks among the appellation's most focused producers. Their 2019 Brunello draws from Sangiovese Grosso grown on the galestro and clay soils southeast of Montalcino, where the terrain brings both heat retention and good drainage. Aged in traditional Slavonian oak botte, the wine delivers dried cherry, pomegranate, and a dried herb undercurrent, with chalky tannins and a long, mineral-driven finish that rewards patience in the cellar.","brand":"Uccelliera","offers":[{"title":"750ML \/ Sangiovese Grosso \/ Italy, Tuscany, Montalcino","offer_id":44136406810797,"sku":"39066","price":74.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0688\/5251\/4989\/files\/t2800593lj_1_48e617ae-7339-4667-a5a6-8ba23624e483.jpg?v=1763417510"},{"product_id":"lisini-brunello-di-montalcino-2019-750ml","title":"LISINI BRUNELLO DI MONTALCINO 2019","description":"One of Montalcino's oldest continuously operating estates, Lisini has been producing Brunello from the southwest corner of the appellation near Sant'Angelo in Colle since the 16th century. Vineyards sit at 350 meters with southern exposure and ventilation off the Maremma coast, planted on the clay-rich soils characteristic of this warmer, lower-altitude sector. The 2019 Brunello is aged in large Slavonian oak casks, a format that softens tannins without masking varietal character, and pours with ripe cherry, dried rose, and iron-inflected earth, finishing with firm but integrated tannins built for long cellaring.","brand":"Lisini","offers":[{"title":"750ML \/ Sangiovese \/ Italy, Tuscany","offer_id":44181444034733,"sku":"39317","price":69.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0688\/5251\/4989\/files\/lisini-lisini-brunello-di-montalcino_1_94c25806-54d6-4649-8089-ba884ac753df.jpg?v=1763417066"},{"product_id":"lisini-brunello-di-montalcino-2021","title":"LISINI BRUNELLO DI MONTALCINO 2021","description":"Glass-lined cement fermentation tanks are a rarity in Brunello di Montalcino, and Lisini leans into that choice deliberately — massal-selection Sangiovese macerates in them for up to 26 days before aging 42 months in large Slavonian oak, bypassing the French barrique influence that reshaped much of the appellation. The sustainably farmed estate's 20 hectares around Sant'Angelo in Colle sit at 300–350 meters, south-facing toward the Maremma, with ventilation that moderates ripening. Winemaker Paolo Salvi, trained under the late Giulio Gambelli, coaxes ripe cherry, pomegranate, and violet, with dusty tannins and a long wild-herb finish.","brand":"Lisini","offers":[{"title":"750ML \/ Sangiovese \/ Italy - Tuscany","offer_id":45889778942125,"sku":"39943","price":81.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0688\/5251\/4989\/files\/brunello-di-montalcino-lisini-7.png?v=1775893400"},{"product_id":"uccelliera-brunello-di-montalcino-2021","title":"UCCELLIERA BRUNELLO DI MONTALCINO 2021","description":"Wild strawberry, dried violet, and black cherry arrive first, backed by licorice and a chalky mineral finish that lingers well past the last sip. That profile traces directly to Uccelliera's southeast Montalcino plots around Castelnuovo dell'Abate, where clay, sand, and iron-rich soils at 150–350 meters put tension into every vintage of Sangiovese. Andrea Cortonesi ferments with native yeasts in stainless steel over 25–30 days, then ages in French and Slavonian oak — a combination that keeps the fruit precise without over-oaking. Vineyards are farmed organically.","brand":"Uccelliera","offers":[{"title":"750ML \/ Sangiovese \/ Italy - Tuscany","offer_id":45889779073197,"sku":"39945","price":76.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0688\/5251\/4989\/files\/uccbrunello-399x600.png?v=1775893399"}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0688\/5251\/4989\/collections\/Week_of_7-26-26-1.png?v=1785000880","url":"https:\/\/sipnyc.com\/collections\/two-crops-montalcinos-biggest-harvest-and-its-frost-year.oembed","provider":"SipNYC","version":"1.0","type":"link"}