Call it manipulation or imagination — when you’re sat down in a beautiful Bolsa Palace’s Arab Hall in Porto center into the dreamy golden ambiance and are poured five glasses of Biondi-Santi’s Sangioveses. What choice is there? One has to pay attention.
The name stands out from the crowd of the Brunello world: the company firmly states they are the “Founder of Brunello di Montalcino”. Oh, well, it’s true — in 1932 seven Italian Ministry of Agriculture recognized Ferruccio Biondi-Santi as “the inventor” of Brunello. In fact, Clemente Santi first used the name of brunello on the label and in official papers in 1865 (back then it was a reference to the brown-ish color of wine).
More than 100 years later, in 1994, Nicholas Belfrage (also wine writer, you know), gave Biondi-Santi vintage 1981 100 points.. Was it the origin of hunderd-points-wines fever that would have later become an incredible though irritating marketing instrument? Only 10 years earlier Parker issued his first 100 points to 1982 Château Mouton Rothschild, but back then not everyone was paying attention.
Historical intricacies apart, I am more interested in the form and substance correlation. Will the golden colors and astonishing wood carving influence the five Brunellos appreciation (two of them are interestingly aged 1997 and 1999)?
The signature marks of Biondi-Santi winemaking process: fermentation in cement, steel and oak as well as aging in big and medium Slavonian oak for 30 months (for classic Brunelli) and 36 for Reservas. Unfortunately for the company it was sold to EPI Group owned by the Descours family in France and in the end none of the family members remained at the Tenuta Greppo estate—understandably not mentioned amongst the official milestones. What wine collectors are left to observe (I don’t see anyone else investing substantial well-above-the-market money into purchasing Biondi-Santi’s Brunellos) is how the company is going to manage the Brunello Inventor’s heritage. And managing one, I am sure, is not an easy task. Fortunately, they have the Biondi-Santi Sangiovese clone — BBS11.
Biondi-Santi | Brunello di Montalcino 2019. Surprisingly, a little closed, kind of strict, firm, quiet, calm; opens up with elegant flavors and aromas of petal rose.
Biondi-Santi | Brunello di Montalcino 2018. Fragrant, aromatic, pine forest, soft tannins, deep, well balanced and silky.
Biondi-Santi | Brunello di Montalcino 2011. Nicely dusty, mineral, earthy, petal rose.
Biondi-Santi | Brunello di Montalcino Riserva “La Storica” 1999. Very faint aromatics, slowly develops; earthy, with a nice balance towards acidity; getting thinner, but ageing nicely.
Biondi-Santi | Brunello di Montalcino Riserva “La Storica” 1997. Very earthy with intense leather notes, direct with sour cherry.