Siro Pacenti 2017 Offer
It's freezing.
A northerly wind is cutting us to the bone as we stand outside the Siro Pacenti cellars getting the lay of the land from Giancarlo's long-time assistant, Barbara. In front of us is the hill of Montalcino and surrounding us are vineyards of various ages and significance. We're north of the village. It's a good spot and the neighbours bare testament to the quality of the terroir; over the road is Cannaliccia di Sopra, to the left is Fuligni, to the right is Valdicava, the hill of Montosoli, Altesino, Baricci and more.
??????Like them, the Pacenti family have been farming the slopes of Montalcino for decades. Giancarlo's grandfather was a key player in moving the family into wine production in the very early days of the consorzio. But, it wasn't until Giancarlo himself took over the winemaking that things changed...radically!
This is the type of guy you want to hand your family business to. What he brought with him was a clarity of vision for the wines he wanted to make as well as an almost peerless grasp of winemaking and viticulture. His wines would quickly become renowned for their incredibly precise, modern styling that manages to preserve the savoury beauty of sangiovese grosso while imbuing them with a edge of plushness and singularity.
Stepping in out of that freezing wind that day we enter into Giancarlo's passion. Sure, you see the usual accoutrements of modern winemaking but more than anything you immediately understand the man's journey, his devotion to his work and you feel you are inside his life-long dream.
This is my first visit to Siro Pacenti, I had been drinking and admiring them for ages. Years earlier I had been fortuitously sat next to him at a dinner in Florence. He was quiet and polite but it was clear from our discussion that evening that he had great passion for Montalcino and a very clear idea of what he wanted his wines to be. Looking around the cellars at that moment, the tetrus blocks of understanding start to fall into place and I get why so many regard him as one of the greatest winemakers of his generation.
The estate is in fact made up of two separate estates - this one in the north of Montalcino at Pelagrilli and planted by Giancarlo's grandfather in 1970 and the other an earlier 1960s planting in the south of Montalcino at Piancornello. There are two bottlings: the Pelagrilli which comes off the northern estate where the cooler site and clay soils deliver wines of high fragrance and a delineated aromatic and flavour profile.??????Whereas the Vigna Vecchia is off the slightly older vines and warmer southerly site where rocky, poor soils deliver a wine that's always most powerful and dense by comparison to the Pelagrilli. Both are wonderful examples of the two specific terroirs and underline Giancarlo's ability (rare amongst his modernist peers) to portray transparency of variety and site within a modern winemaking envelope. As Eric Guido says of this trait, While Pacenti is also a fan of new oak, it is expertly applied to add accents to the wine without the overwhelming wood sensations that the word barrique brings to mind.
We're here to taste the 2017s and everything I know about him and his reputation for precision and detail in his winemaking is on show in the two wines. It's a warmer vintage and many in the region struggled to maintain finesse and freshness in their wines. Not so here. Somehow he has managed to preserve both of these characteristics and more to the point the wines still effortlessly show their different terroirs. The Pellegrilli with it's detail and aromatic lilt, while the Vigna Vecchia carries with it more heft and muscle and minerality which adds a buttress to the wine's exuberance.
Both wines are not for the long haul in my view, maybe seven and ten years respectively to reach optimum drinking but on top of that they will give you huge pleasure at whatever stage you pull a cork.
We have, as always with this producer, very little wine. It has arrived very late due to weird shipping hance the strange timing for the offer. I highly recommend these wines to you. Please note I have a very special discount on the wines (20%) so it's a great chance to pick up one Brunello's greatest at a special price.
Cheers
Michael
A northerly wind is cutting us to the bone as we stand outside the Siro Pacenti cellars getting the lay of the land from Giancarlo's long-time assistant, Barbara. In front of us is the hill of Montalcino and surrounding us are vineyards of various ages and significance. We're north of the village. It's a good spot and the neighbours bare testament to the quality of the terroir; over the road is Cannaliccia di Sopra, to the left is Fuligni, to the right is Valdicava, the hill of Montosoli, Altesino, Baricci and more.
??????Like them, the Pacenti family have been farming the slopes of Montalcino for decades. Giancarlo's grandfather was a key player in moving the family into wine production in the very early days of the consorzio. But, it wasn't until Giancarlo himself took over the winemaking that things changed...radically!
This is the type of guy you want to hand your family business to. What he brought with him was a clarity of vision for the wines he wanted to make as well as an almost peerless grasp of winemaking and viticulture. His wines would quickly become renowned for their incredibly precise, modern styling that manages to preserve the savoury beauty of sangiovese grosso while imbuing them with a edge of plushness and singularity.
Stepping in out of that freezing wind that day we enter into Giancarlo's passion. Sure, you see the usual accoutrements of modern winemaking but more than anything you immediately understand the man's journey, his devotion to his work and you feel you are inside his life-long dream.
This is my first visit to Siro Pacenti, I had been drinking and admiring them for ages. Years earlier I had been fortuitously sat next to him at a dinner in Florence. He was quiet and polite but it was clear from our discussion that evening that he had great passion for Montalcino and a very clear idea of what he wanted his wines to be. Looking around the cellars at that moment, the tetrus blocks of understanding start to fall into place and I get why so many regard him as one of the greatest winemakers of his generation.
The estate is in fact made up of two separate estates - this one in the north of Montalcino at Pelagrilli and planted by Giancarlo's grandfather in 1970 and the other an earlier 1960s planting in the south of Montalcino at Piancornello. There are two bottlings: the Pelagrilli which comes off the northern estate where the cooler site and clay soils deliver wines of high fragrance and a delineated aromatic and flavour profile.??????Whereas the Vigna Vecchia is off the slightly older vines and warmer southerly site where rocky, poor soils deliver a wine that's always most powerful and dense by comparison to the Pelagrilli. Both are wonderful examples of the two specific terroirs and underline Giancarlo's ability (rare amongst his modernist peers) to portray transparency of variety and site within a modern winemaking envelope. As Eric Guido says of this trait, While Pacenti is also a fan of new oak, it is expertly applied to add accents to the wine without the overwhelming wood sensations that the word barrique brings to mind.
We're here to taste the 2017s and everything I know about him and his reputation for precision and detail in his winemaking is on show in the two wines. It's a warmer vintage and many in the region struggled to maintain finesse and freshness in their wines. Not so here. Somehow he has managed to preserve both of these characteristics and more to the point the wines still effortlessly show their different terroirs. The Pellegrilli with it's detail and aromatic lilt, while the Vigna Vecchia carries with it more heft and muscle and minerality which adds a buttress to the wine's exuberance.
Both wines are not for the long haul in my view, maybe seven and ten years respectively to reach optimum drinking but on top of that they will give you huge pleasure at whatever stage you pull a cork.
We have, as always with this producer, very little wine. It has arrived very late due to weird shipping hance the strange timing for the offer. I highly recommend these wines to you. Please note I have a very special discount on the wines (20%) so it's a great chance to pick up one Brunello's greatest at a special price.
Cheers
Michael
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Siro Pacenti Brunello Di Montalcino Vecchie Vigne 2017The 2017 Brunello di Montalcino Vecchie Vigne presents an intense bouquet of crushed raspberries and cloves giving way to dusty florals and hints of incense. The textures are wonderfully silky and refined, ushering in a rush of mineral-tinged primary fruits that are brighter and more red-toned in this vintage than usual, as well as incredibly concentrated. The tannins come forward through the close, grippy and youthfully dry, along with a salty flourish, while leaving hints of licorice to slowly taper off. Siro Pacenti cut their production down by 50% to create this successful expression of the 2017 vintage. ANTONIO GALLONI2017sangioveseItaly495$215.00 As low as $193.50