In the Sweet Spot: 2001 Brunello di Montalcino

BY ERIC GUIDO | MARCH 11, 2021

Is Brunello di Montalcino a wine with the potential of living 100 years in a perfect cellar? Well, it is according to generations of the Biondi-Santi family.

A testament to this claim can be witnessed through cherished Riserva bottlings that surface once in a blue moon from within the Tenuta Greppo cellars to show their worth. Unfortunately, what has been proven over the course of many decades is that the overwhelming majority of Brunello does not possess the ability to make the 100-year mark, nor would today’s producers necessarily wish to make their wines in a style that could age for this long. In fact, if anything, the last three decades have been spent trying to understand how the region can make wines that will be enjoyable within a few years of release, as well as maturing positively in collectors’ cellars. This brings us to the twenty-year mark of the 2001 vintage of Brunello di Montalcino, a year that was rated four out of five stars by the Consorzio at the time; yet it remains highly regarded as one of the best vintages of its decade by both collectors and producers.

So why twenty years? Why not ten or thirty? Because, in my opinion, it is the twenty-year mark that proves the potential of a Brunello vintage. At ten years, a classically structured vintage is still in its adolescent stages (think 2010). At thirty years, only the best wines will still be drinking well (think 1990). However, at twenty years, you can assess from a broad range of producers if the vintage is ready to drink now, drink soon, or continue to stash away in your cellar.  

Another important factor to add into the equation for 2001 is that the vintage marked a pivotal time in the history of Montalcino, when there was a push toward a darker and more accessible style of Brunello. Many producers were using French oak barriques and talking about “special clones'' that would add deeper and richer hues to their wines. Remember that this was prior to the infamous Brunello-gate scandal, where vintages were held back by authorities, and producers were investigated with the suspicion that they were adulterating their Brunello (a wine that should always be 100% Sangiovese by law) with international varieties, or juice that was brought in from the warmer regions of Italy to pump up ripeness levels and appeal to the wine lovers. But it was also during this period that a number of producers in Montalcino began to conceptualize the vineyard practices and winemaking that are common practice today.

The Casaccia Vineyard of Canalicchio di Sopra in 2001.