From Here to Eternity: Tenuta Licinia Recent Releases

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The soft-spoken James Marshall Lockyer, winemaker of Tuscany’s Tenuta Licinia, would likely balk at the Iron Maiden reference of today’s title, but as you’ll see in a few minutes, the concept of eternal distance feels apt when tasting through his wines, because they have finishes longer than my run-on sentences.

Established in 2007, Tenuta Licinia is making a name for itself in terms of being almost fanatical about preserving, examining, and improving Tuscan terroir. Lockyer wasn’t always a terroir fanatic: his background is actually in the study of ethics, which he thinks gives him an approach that is more careful and deliberate in terms of decision-making in the cellar and vineyard, and honing on what types of wines they ultimately want to produce.

Tenuta Licinia can be found at the foothills of the Tuscan Appenines near Lucignano, which borders Siena and Arezzo. “It was my grandfather who started it, he came here in the `60s from Belgium,” Lockyer noted during an online tasting in which he led some media types (myself included) through some of his recent releases. He’s speaking of Jacques de Liedekerke, who befriendedn a Tuscan that had moved to Belgium, and who offered to sell Jacques an old abandoned farmhouse property that happened to come with a small vineyard attached. “For the first 20-30 years he was here, he didn’t think much of [the vineyards on his property]. He grew up in the days when it was more of an industrialized product. He didn’t understand Tuscan subsoils and Tuscan geology. Over time, he looked more and more into it, and he started thinking that maybe the vineyard might be something [special]; in some ways it was his retirement project.”

The vineyard his grandfather planted is really a meeting of two hills. “I took over a few years ago. The vineyard that he replanted, he sort of got it half right. Half of the vineyard is really great, and half is decent but not spectacular. The goal of the winery has been to identify really nice plots and abandoned parcels and bring them back to a high level, really understanding Tuscan subsoils. The geology changes very, very quickly, every 30 or 40 meters. Two hills that look identical from the surface can really have completely different subsoils.”

Lockyer would visit vineyards on what he called “corporate espionage visits” to study great vineyard soils, slowly and methodically applying what he learned to his own property. The results sort of speak for themselves, except if you haven’t tasted them directly, of course, which is why I’m here, after all!

2019 Tenuta Licinia ‘Montepolli’, Toscana, $40

The vitals on this red: 47% Merlot, 22% Cabernet Sauvignon, 19% Cabernet Franc and 12% Petit Verdot, spending 16 months in second passage French oak. The vines are grown on a clay limestone plot, no unlike the soils in some of Burgundy, at 360m altitude. “In our case, it may be a bit too clay-ish,” Lockyer lamented. “The tannins can be quite wide and quite massive. There’s a different grain of tannin.” In 2019, they “found the identities of the vineyards,” he added. Lots of graphite, with a savory nose that leans towards red and black plums. Some dried herbal spice notes, and things then get very interesting on the palate, with really nice tension between the deep structure/grip, vibrancy, and dried strawberry fruit flavors. Dried violets show up on the finish, which is long and powerful. Though it has imposing tannins, the mouthfeel has some plush edges to it. Lockyer’s almost apologetic about this red, but he needn’t be, because it’s damned good.

2019 Tenuta Licinia ‘Sasso di Fata’, Toscana, $80

70% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% Cabernet Franc and 5% Petit Verdot from a small 3.5 hectare plot over a flaky gold colored schist, with a the subsoil of galestro stones, seeing 16 months in second passage French oak. Lockyer calls the soil “paper-thin slate,” contributing to “a much more beautiful grain of tannin and a much more sophisticated aroma; they tend to go in a much more floral direction, with a slightly savory, saline finish to the wines. Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc are quite at home here. This the ‘prototype’ Sasso di Fata, in a sense.” What a polite presentation: dried rose petal, mint, mineral/graphite, with hints of wood spice, saline, red currant, and dried herbs. Wow, this is so alive in the mouth, impeccably balanced with elegant threads bringing everything together: the florals, the structure, the lively red fruits, the bouncy acids. While it might seem light on its feet, the structure and power are there, but they are buoyed by all of that lovely, lovely elegance. A gorgeous start to their signature style.

2021 Tenuta Licinia ‘Sasso di Fata’, Toscana, $80

This was James’ first full vintage as winemaker; “for me this is a much better wine and a much more complete wine than the `19. A lot of the work we did was on slightly cooler fermentations. For me it’s more exciting.” For this vintage, they blended 55% Cabernet Sauvignon, 35% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Franc, spending about 10 months in oak. They also picked based on taste rather than exclusively on analysis. The dried rose action is quite distinct here, followed by dried herbs, dark minerality (that really is a thing for me), saline, graphite, dried violets, dried and fresh currants, and wild red berries. I love the mouthfeel on this red, it’s so fresh and elegant. The structure here is more prominent than in the `19, and this red is clearly built for longer term aging. The finish is epically long, carrying the tannins and rose petals practically from here to eternity. Fantastic.

Cheers!

Source : https://www.1winedude.com/from-here-to-eternity-tenuta-licinia-recent-releases/