Biondi Santi TENUTA GREPPO BIONDI SANTI Brunello di Montalcino 2017

Description

The Biondi Santi Brunello di Montalcino 2017 exudes velvety texture, concentration and elegance. The softness and personality that distinguish the iconic Il Greppo estate are well present in the 2017 vintage, an edition that is dark, exuberant and bold, but also precise, focused and sharp. It will live on for years in your cellar, but tasted now in its infancy, the wine shows blackberry, dried cherry, plum and blackcurrant. Dark fruit tones followed by tar, spice, earth, tobacco and sweet balsamic herbs. Biondi-Santi wines are made for long hauling, and the fresh acidity that characterizes this company is the main reason why its bottles can rest for decades before being enjoyed.

It is a rare phenomenon that a wine can trace its origins back to a single man. Brunello di Montalcino, however, owes its existence to Ferrucio Biondi-Santi and its fame to his family. Now in the seventh generation of winemakers, the Biondi-Santi family continues to produce wines renowned for their elegance and extraordinary longevity. Located in the heart of Montalcino, the Tenuta Greppo estate extends over 25 hectares of vineyards on soils rich in sandstone and marl, perfect for the cultivation of Sangiovese Grosso. Defenders of a rich winemaking heritage, the family continues to use traditional methods begun over a century ago to bring out the unique characteristics of Brunello di Montalcino.

From the mid-1800s Clemente Santi, writer and scientist, studied the quality of the vineyards and viticulture of the Greppo estate in Montalcino. Long before it became standard practice, Clemente chose to focus on red wines suitable for ageing. The innovative winemaking practices Clemente employed earned him considerable recognition, including an award for his “1865 Selected Red Wine (Brunello)” at the 1867 Universal Exposition in Paris. Following in his grandfather’s footsteps, Ferrucio Biondi continued to experiment in the vineyards. In fact, Ferrucio was so proud of the work done by his grandfather that he combined the two surnames and became Ferruccio Biondi-Santi. Ferrucio worked hard to combat the challenges posed by powdery mildew and phylloxera. From his mass selection of Sangiovese come the Brunello Biondi-Santi clones, or BBS 11, now very famous. Ferrucio also made the courageous decision to bottle a 100% Sangiovese wine. With this first bottling, the birth of the modern Brunello di Montalcino began.

After Ferrucio’s death in 1917, his son Tancredi Biondi-Santi continued the line of succession and carried on the family tradition with meticulous care. He looked to the past to secure the future, keeping the old vintages in the cellar. In doing so, Biondi-Santi was finally able to show the world how long-lived and complex a Brunello di Montalcino could be. In 1966, Brunello di Montalcino became DOC and the Italian government turned to Tancredi to assist him in drafting the regulation. Tancredi took the winery to new heights, but it was his son Franco who helped spread the potential of this historic winery on the global market. Today Franco’s son, Jacopo, and his son, Tancredi, represent the sixth and seventh generation carrying on the family legacy.