Biondi Santi

Located in the heart of Italy, Biondi Santi is one of Italy’s successful family-owned wineries. Biondi Santi represents a wide range of delicious red wines, such as the gorgeous and aromatic Biondi Santi Brunello di Montalcino Riserva.

History

Few wineries can rightly claim to have created an entire category of wine. But Biondi-Santi can. The story begins in the mid-19th century with Clemente Santi, a scientist with a degree from the University of Pisa, who began experimenting with a local clone of the Sangiovese variety at the family estate, Tenuta Greppo, located near Montalcino in Tuscany. This grape variety had a brownish hue at harvest time, which is why the locals called it ‘Brunello’ from the Italian word ‘bruno’, meaning ‘brown’.

It was Clemente’s grandson, Ferruccio Biondi-Santi, who developed this idea. In 1888, he bottled the first wine made from 100% Sangiovese, without the addition of white grapes or concentrated must, which was the standard practice in Tuscany at the time. In 1932, the Italian Ministry of Agriculture officially recognised him as the inventor of Brunello di Montalcino. His descendants carried this legacy through two world wars, his son Tancredi is known to have walled up the estate’s historic bottles in 1944 to hide them from advancing troops. Franco Biondi-Santi managed the estate from 1970 until his death in 2013 and throughout this time remained one of the staunchest defenders of the traditional Brunello style, capable of long-term ageing. In 2016, the French group EPI, which specialises in luxury goods, acquired a controlling stake, stating its intention to develop rather than revolutionise the business. The Tuscan management team remained in place.

Vineyards

Tenuta Greppo is situated approximately two kilometres from the town of Montalcino, at an altitude of around 560 metres above sea level. The estate comprises 32 hectares of vineyards, spread across five separate plots on different sides of Montalcino. The main block surrounds the winery itself, situated on a steep, south-facing amphitheatre; the oldest vines here date back to the 1930s. Other plots include Il Pieri to the east at an altitude of 370 metres, Scarnacuoia to the west at 450 metres with terraced vineyards surrounded by stone walls, and Pievecchia to the north, the lowest and coolest plot with more clayey soil. A fifth plot, Ribusuoli, was added in 2019.

Terroir

The soils of Greppo are dominated by galestro, the local name for loose, stony shale, mixed with clay and marl. These poor, well-drained soils force the vines to dig deep into the ground and produce small, concentrated berries. Thanks to the altitude, temperatures here are lower than in most of Tuscany, which helps preserve the grapes’ freshness and acidity, two factors crucial to Brunello’s ability to age for decades.

Grape varieties

Only one grape variety is grown here: Sangiovese, in the form of the Grosso clone known as BBS11, Brunello Biondi-Santi 11. This clone was identified and developed by Franco Biondi-Santi in collaboration with the University of Florence in the 1970s, officially registered in 1978, and has since spread throughout Tuscany and beyond. It produces smaller berries with a higher skin-to-juice ratio, which gives the wines firm tannins, high acidity and remarkable structure.

Winemaking

The approach in the cellar is deliberately minimalist. The grapes are harvested by hand and destemmed on arrival. Fermentation takes place in cement or stainless steel tanks using exclusively indigenous yeasts. Extraction is restrained, the aim is structure and freshness, not concentration. After fermentation, the wines are transferred to large neutral Slavonian oak barrels, never new ones, where they are aged slowly without acquiring a heavy oaky character. Annata is aged in barrels for 36 months; Riserva, produced only in exceptional vintages from grapes grown on vines over 25 years old, is aged for six years before release.

Wines

The range is small and focused. Rosso di Montalcino, made from grapes of the youngest vines, is aged in barrels for 12 months and is a version of the Greppo wine, ready for consumption at an earlier stage. Brunello di Montalcino Annata, the estate’s flagship wine, is structured, fresh and intended for ageing for 20 years or more. The Riserva is produced only in the finest vintages and is one of Italy’s longest-lived red wines. The 1955 Riserva is the only Italian wine to feature on Wine Spectator’s list of the best wines of the 20th century. Bottles from the 1888 vintage are still stored in the estate’s historic cellar — and, according to reports, when someone tasted it for the last time in 1994, it was still in good condition.