1964 Brunello di Montalcino Riserva

Biondi-Santi is the royal family of Montalcino. The Biondi-Santis have been cultivating grapes and making wine here since at least the mid-1800’s. In the late 1800s, Ferruccio Biondi-Santi, the son of Clemente Santi and Jacopo Biondi, isolated a clone of Sangiovese, known today as Sangiovese Grosso, and began vinifying it on its own, without white grapes, as was then the custom. In doing so, Ferruccio Biondi-Santi invented the wine known today as Brunello di Montalcino. Thus begins the modern-day history of Montalcino’s most famous wine.

A little additional context is in order. Biondi-Santi’s Brunello won awards, was served at important state events and had gained international recognition well before most of the Montalcino estates we know today even existed. It’s hard to imagine, but back then, Montalcino’s most famous wine was the sweet Moscadello di Montalcino and not Brunello.

For most of the last several decades, Il Greppo was managed by, Ferruccio’s grandson, Franco Biondi-Santi. It’s still hard to believe that Franco Biondi-Santi, the patriarch of Montalcino, passed away in early 2013. Every time I visit Il Greppo I expect to see him, but of course it never happens. Always calm, relaxed and impeccably dressed, Biondi-Santi exuded a warm, welcoming personality informed by an aristocratic cordiality from a long-gone time. Visitors were brought into a sitting room for a leisurely chat, after which Biondi-Santi would lead the way into the cellar. For all the years I knew him, when his health allowed Biondi-Santi always conducted the tastings himself, meticulously instructing his cellar workers as we moved from cask to cask. Today, the rich legacy of the estate has passed on to Jacopo Biondi-Santi, Franco’s son, who had to wait until he was a grown man to inherit the family’s crown jewel.

This tasting was remarkable on so many levels. For starters, the seven vintages encompassed most of, if not all, the widely recognized Biondi-Santi benchmarks. All the bottles were sourced directly from the Biondi-Santi family’s personal collection. Specifically, these wines were part of a stock that was sold following the passing of Franco Biondi-Santi and that is now in the market. As Biondi-Santi fans know, each year the estate reconditioned a number of their older wines, topping off old bottles and replacing corks, as is done in Bordeaux from time to time. The documentation accompanying these bottles is impeccable.

The Biondi-Santi Brunellos are known for their sense of classic austerity, and, above all else, their ability to age. Indeed, even at 30, 40 and 50 years of age, the wines retain searing acidity and considerable tannin. Italian wines in general are meant for the dinner table, and that is certainly the case here. The flagship Riserva is sourced from the estate’s oldest vines, which sit at 500 meters above sea level on soils that consist mostly of galestro, a mix of rocks and sand that is characteristic of certain spots in Tuscany. The Riserva is fermented in wood uprights and aged in neutral oak casks. During the era in which these wines were made, the malolactic fermentations were spontaneous and mostly occurred in the spring following the harvest. Stylistically, these fine, mature Riservas show the wilder, more powerful side of Sangiovese.