2016 Rosso di Montalcino, Tenuta Greppo, Biondi-Santi, Tuscany, Italy

Biondi-Santi

Biond-Santi remains a beacon for traditionally made Rosso and Brunello di Montalcino.The Greppo vineyards of the Biondi Santi family date back to the 1800s. Clemente Santi, nephew of Giorgio Santi, was the first to create red wines suitable for ageing, and his oenological techniques learnt through agriculture, chemistry and science were far more advanced than his peers.

Clemente’s knowledge was passed on to his nephew Ferruccio Biondi Santi, who skilfully continued to run the Greppo estate, and managed to keep production running after the First World War. In 1932 he was described as ‘the inventor of Brunello’.

The estate has been passed down through the family to this day, and is currently managed by Franco Biondi Santi, along with the help of his two children, who will eventually take on the business themselves.

Brunello del Greppo now has twenty five hectares dedicated to its production, and the traditional agronomy and cellaring practises are still used to give this grape its character and quality.

Biondi-Santi harvests early. The wines are subject to a long maceration period, in steel for the straight Brunello, and oak for the Riserva, and are then aged in large oak casks.

Rosso di Montalcino

Rosso di Montalcino is a large Tuscan DOC, to the far south of the Chianti Classico region, which  has been classified since 1983. 

The wines are fruity, soft, light and forward-maturing. They come from Sangiovesse vines outside the finer Brunello di Montalcino DOCG, harvested at up to 62 hl/ha, or from declassified Brunello fruit (often from young vines) in which case the yield must be the same as Brunello wines, at 55 hl/ha.

Sangiovese

A black grape widely grown in Central Italy and the main component of Chianti and Vino Nobile di Montepulciano as well as being the sole permitted grape for the famed Brunello di Montalcino.

It is a high yielding, late ripening grape that performs best on well-drained calcareous soils on south-facing hillsides. For years it was blighted by poor clonal selection and massive overcropping - however since the 1980s the quality of Sangiovese-based wines has rocketed upwards and they are now some of the most sought after in the world.

It produces wines with pronounced tannins and acidity, though not always with great depth of colour, and its character can vary from farmyard/leather nuances through to essence of red cherries and plums. In the 1960s the advent of Super Tuscans saw bottlings of 100% Sangiovese wines, as well as the introduction of Sangiovese/Cabernet Sauvignon blends, the most famous being Tignanello.