Biondi Santi

Region: Tuscany

The prestige of The Greppo dates back to the 19th Century, with the great wine culture of the family that owned this Estate, whose terroir has an extraordinary vocation for Sangiovese. Clemente began making wine using 100% Sangiovese and passed his wine knowledge to his nephew Ferruccio Biondi Santi, who, after the phyloxera came in the second half of ‘800, isolated a clone of Sangiovese that gave birth to wines of extraordinary longevity. In 1888, Ferruccio produced the first bottle of Brunello di Montalcino.

His son Tancredi, a wine maker with a remarkable reputation, typified Brunello, setting the guidelines for the production discipline and introducing it to the international market where it quickly received noteworthy recognition.
Franco, Tancredi’s son and trained enologist, worked closely with his father for decades, and he mastered the subtle art of making wine. Following strict, traditional methods of agronomy and cellar practices, he has steadfastly produced an incomparable collection of “Brunello Riserve� equal to the exceptional 100 year-old Brunellos of the past.

The estate includes 47 hectares of land at The Greppo and 105 at Pieri. Only 25 hectares are cultivated vineyard of Sangiovese Grosso. The oldest vines, totaling 5 hectares, date from 1930-1970; 8 hectares from 1988-1989; 6 hectares from 2000-2001; the youngest vines were recently planted in 2004-2006. Fertile soils are usually not used. Marled soils with heavy stones have been always preferred by the family with southern, southeastern, eastern, northeastern and northern exposure.
The yield per hectare is kept low at 3-5 tons per hectare. The current production rarely exceeds 80,000 bottles, including about 10,000 bottles of “Riserva,� only made after exceptional harvests.

The harvest begins in mid September and done exclusively by hand. Only the best grapes are destined to the production of Brunello, those from the vineyards that are at least ten years old for the “Annata� and those at least twenty-five years old for the “Riserva.� The second choice of grapes is used for table wine, sold in bulk. Only estate-grown grapes and wine vinified, solely, on the premises of the estate are used for production.