2009 08 31 - Vino - Luce della Vite

Luce della Vite:
Luce - A Dog in the Church
At a luncheon in San Francisco a few years ago, we asked Marchese Leonardo Frescobaldi what his neighbors thought about his family being the first to plant Merlot in Montalcino, an appellation restricted to Sangiovese.

He answered, "It was like bringing a dog to church."

"So why did you do it?" we asked.

"Because of the clay," he said. "Merlot loves clay, Sangiovese loves galestro. We have both in our vineyards in Montalcino, so we decided to add Merlot to the parts of the vineyard that had the clay."

Logical enough, but what were the results?

The drive for innovation led the Frescobaldi's to look abroad, and found a partner in the Robert Mondavi Family. They decided to eschew the coveted Brunello di Montalcino D.O.C.G. and create a wine from Montalcino that reflected the traditions of Tuscany and the modern spirit of innovation both families embraced.

The families planted a new estate in Montalcino to Sangiovese, and used some of the Merlot from the Frescobaldi's Castelgiocondo estate in Montalcino (confident in the Frescobaldi's success with their Lamaione wine, 100% Merlot). The result was Luce, a Montalcino blend of Sangiovese and Merlot...half Sangiovese, half Merlot, this wine blends not only the grape varieties but the traditions of Tuscany and California.

A member of the 30th generation of the Frescobaldi family, Lamberto Frescobaldi is the Director of Winemaking for Marchesi de' Frescobaldi. He is directly responsible for creating Luce each vintage.

As reported by James Suckling in the Oct. 31, 2003 Wine Spectator, "From the beginning, Frescobaldi was his family's primary liaison to the Mondavis. He quickly realized that their organizational skills and winemaking methodology could be applied to all of his family's winemaking concerns."

"Luce was the catalyst for all the new investment in quality for my family," says Lamberto Frescobaldi. "It gave me the opportunity to do something. My family said, 'You get together with the Mondavi's and put something together."

"I could say to my family, 'Let's do that because that's how we do it with Luce,'" he says. "It really helped."

And so Luce led a quality revolution within the Frescobaldi wines, and the competition has kept Luce (and the Frescobaldi wines) at the forefront of quality.

Today, Marchesi de' Frescobaldi continues to work with the Michael Mondavi family, putting the Luce project in private hands for the first time, with a renewed commitment to producing a unique wine that reflects the Montalcino appellation and rewards wine collectors world-wide.