I initially published this article on 10/20 but pulled it back to include additional information provided to me by the estate. I thread this new information through the initial document, indicating where I have done so and the impact on my prior assessment. If the estate adheres to its stated positions, some of the fears of long-time Biondi-Santi fans will be rendered moot.
At a 2015 Vinous-hosted tasting of selected 2010 Brunellos di Montalcino, Antonio Galloni commented that Biondi-Santi had "lost its direction" to some extent in the recent past but that the 2010 edition of its Annata was "the essence of Classicism." Commenting further, he indicated that he was more worried about the estate's future than its past, given the recent changes that it had undergone. In this post I examine the history of the estate and the changes that Antonio alluded. As stated in the foregoing, I will also discuss the steps that the estate has taken to allay those fears.
Historical Biondi-Santi
The Biondi-Santi story is a tale encompassing innovation, pedigree, longevity, and adherence to founding principles and the manifestation of these characteristics in both the founding family and the clonal variety with which they are associated.
It is a story of innovation in the way in which the Sangiovese Grosso clone was isolated and nurtured to become what it is today -- one of the most revered and desired wines in all of Italy.
It is a story of pedigree in that Ferrucio Biondi Santi, the "discoverer" in the Sangiovese Grosso story, was the grandson of Clemente Santi, a noted Sienese agriculturist and winemaker and, himself, the grandson of Georgio Santi, a noted Tuscan scholar. That pedigree continued to suffuse the modern-day enterprise with the tenure of Tancredi Biondi Santi, son of Ferrucio -- and himself a renowned oenologist -- who implemented most of the managerial and operational principles which drove the company up to its recent past, and Franco, his son, who exhibited the epitome of patrician stewardship (Franco, referred to as "the Gentleman of Brunello" by Kerin O'Keefe, died in 2013 at the age of 91.).
It is a story of innovation in the way in which the Sangiovese Grosso clone was isolated and nurtured to become what it is today -- one of the most revered and desired wines in all of Italy.
It is a story of pedigree in that Ferrucio Biondi Santi, the "discoverer" in the Sangiovese Grosso story, was the grandson of Clemente Santi, a noted Sienese agriculturist and winemaker and, himself, the grandson of Georgio Santi, a noted Tuscan scholar. That pedigree continued to suffuse the modern-day enterprise with the tenure of Tancredi Biondi Santi, son of Ferrucio -- and himself a renowned oenologist -- who implemented most of the managerial and operational principles which drove the company up to its recent past, and Franco, his son, who exhibited the epitome of patrician stewardship (Franco, referred to as "the Gentleman of Brunello" by Kerin O'Keefe, died in 2013 at the age of 91.).
Pedigree, as it relates to Sangiovese Grosso, is shown by the fact that the same clone isolated by Ferrucio Biondi Santi continues as the basis of the wine produced by the estate. New vineyards at the estate are planted with buds from old vines.
Longevity, in terms of the winery, is manifested in the fact that there has been a continuous chain of Biondi Santis caring for the estate beginning with Ferrucio and continuing through Tancredi to the regime of Franco and his son Jacopo. The longevity in the wine is manifested in the time required before it is approachable as well as its demonstrated aging ability. Numerous bottles of 100+ year-old Biondi Santi wines are known to have resided in the winery's cellar.
Adherence to founding principles is manifested in the fact that the clone developed by Ferrucio is still the basis of the wine and the operating principles developed by Tancredi still guide the company's day-to-day operations.
Longevity, in terms of the winery, is manifested in the fact that there has been a continuous chain of Biondi Santis caring for the estate beginning with Ferrucio and continuing through Tancredi to the regime of Franco and his son Jacopo. The longevity in the wine is manifested in the time required before it is approachable as well as its demonstrated aging ability. Numerous bottles of 100+ year-old Biondi Santi wines are known to have resided in the winery's cellar.
Adherence to founding principles is manifested in the fact that the clone developed by Ferrucio is still the basis of the wine and the operating principles developed by Tancredi still guide the company's day-to-day operations.
Franco's son Jacopo worked with him until, frustrated by "his father's tight grip on Il Greppo and adherence to tradition" he left and founded his own estate -- Tenuta Castello di Montepò -- in the Tuscan Maremma. Upon Franco's death, Jacopo took up the reins of management of the Biondi-Santi enterprise.
As will be discussed later on in this document, Jacopo no longer serves in that capacity at Biondi-Santi.
My visit to the Estate
I visited the Biondi-Santi estate in July of 2011.
Some background: The farm, Il Greppo, dates back to 1870; Ferrucio isolated the Sangiovese Grosso clone and produced the first wine in 1888; Tancredi Biondi Santi established the estate's production standards; and, Franco Biondi Santi still ran the cellar and functioned as the winemaker at the time of our visit.
The current Biondi-Santi Montalcino holdings are shown in the chart below.
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| A detail of Il Greppo |
The vines are spur-cordon-trained, with the oldest vineyards carrying 2200 to 3300 plants/hectare, the mid-aged vineyards carrying 5900 plants/hectare and the youngest, 4500 plants/hectare. The Riserva wine was sourced from vines in excess of 25 years old while the Rosso and Rosato wines were sourced from vines that were less than 10 years old.
Some of the operational procedures, originally developed by Tancredi Biondi Santi, included: weed control through topsoil-turning; two green harvests to aerate the grapes; grape thinning towards the end of July to allow for better ripening; limited leaf removal before harvesting; hand harvesting; and careful selection among harvested bunches. Yields were three to five tons per hectare with deselected grapes vinified and sold in bulk as table wine.
Fermentation was initiated with natural yeasts. The Riserva grapes were fermented in Slavonian oak barrels, the Brunello in concrete vats, and the Rosato in stainless steel tanks.
The must is kept in contact with the cap in a pumping-over process and temperature is controlled by cooling the must to 30 degrees during this process. Maceration runs between 15 and 18 days followed by malolactic fermentation which occurs in the vat room. The Brunello and Riserva wines are aged for three years in oak and 6 months in old barrels prior to bottling and are racked twice per year while in wood.
Production averages 80,000 bottles of wine and 3000 bottles of olive oil annually. Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Annata production amounts to 60,000 barrels while 8,000 bottles of the Riserva is produced in exceptional years. Rosso di Montalcino Fascia Rossa is produced in the years when grape quality is not high enough for the production of the Brunello. About 12,000 bottles of Rosso di Montalcino is produced annually. This wine is aged for one year in Slovenian oak and is ready to drink upon release.
Liquidating the Historical Biondi-Santi Assets
The liquidation of the Biondi-Santi assets began with a surprise sale of a stash of its Riservas and culminated with the sale of the estate to EPI. I was aware of the initial sale of a majority of the Biondi-Santi shares to EPI but have just been informed that EPI is now the sole owner of Biondi-Santi. This suggests that the 7.7% share that Jacopo is reported to have retained in the new company has subsequently been purchased by EPI.
Sale of Riservas
The liquidation of the historical Biondi-Santi assets began around the time of Franco's death with the sale of 7000 bottles of Riservas from the 1945, 1955, 1964, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, and 1975 vintages. According to Jancis Robinson, these wines had been moved from the estate to another location in Tuscany in the year prior to the sale. The sale price was 4 million Euros with the seller being the distribution company Biondi-Santi Spa and the purchaser being Sergio Esposito of Bottled Assets Fund. In an interview with Oinos Viveredivino, Jacopo characterized this sale as a great demonstration of international recognition of the objective value of the estate's Riservas.
Sale of a Majority Stake in Biondi-Santi
In late 2016, the Biondi Santi family signed an agreement with French luxury goods maker EPI to transfer majority ownership of the estate to that entity for the consideration of a reported 107 million Euros. As reported, the brand, Tenuta Greppo property, and 26 ha of Sangiovese vines were transferred to the new entity, with Jacopo and his son Tancredi remaining as winemakers and Brand Ambassadors. The Biondi Santi family retained an almost 8 percent stake in the new entity.
In an interview with Mike DeSimone and Jeff Jensen (World Wine Guys) reported in Forbes (6/18/19), Jacopo said that the reason for the sale of the estate was his father reneging on a verbal agreement they had had prior to his death. According to Jacopo, the agreement would have left the grape and the trademark to him and his mother's estate to his sister. On his death, however, it was revealed that 50% of the estate was left to his mother and 25% each to him and his sister.
Jacopo could not afford to purchase the 75% of the estate that he did not own but he did not want to partner with family members who did not really, as he said, care about the business; he wanted serious working partners. Hence the sale. According to Jacopo, he is the President of the organization in addition to winemaker and Brand Ambassador. In addition, the company retained the copyright to the BBS11 clone, the launchpad of Brunello di Montalcino wines.
Current Ownership and Key Players
EPI is now the sole owner of Biondi-Santi and has tasked Giampiero Bertolini, the CEO, with strategic responsibility for the business. Giampiero (who has been onboard since November 2018) will be assisted operationally by Federico Radi in his role as Viticulture and Winemaking Director. Federico has bee with Biondi-Santi since 2017. Jacopo and Tancredi Biondi Santi are no longer co-winemakers at the estate while Tancredi fills the position of Worldwide Brand Ambassador for Biondi-Santi wines.
Jacopo Biondi Santi's Instituted and Proposed Changes
During his time as leader of the estate, Jacopo had instituted a number of changes for the 2013 vintage and provided insight into expected changes going forward. I report on these actual and proposed changes and contextualize them within the framework of stated positions from the current management team.
Wine Spectator Interview
In the course of this interview, Jacopo revealed a number of changes that he had instituted for the 2013 vintage:
- Swapping out the "antique" hydraulic basket press for a more modern soft bladder press. Jacopo saw the hydraulic press as being "too violent."
- Doubled the maceration time for fermenting must to 25 days (This was not actually a doubling. During my visit to the estate I was told that the maceration time was 15 to 18 days)
- He kept the temperature a few degrees cooler
- He did an additional racking to remove the gross lees earlier.
Oinos Viveredivino Interview
In this interview Jacapo indicated that there would be small updates on the production front but no activity in the grape-growing arena. He foresaw no change in the production of the Brunello Riserva but would review the harvest period, fermentation, and aging to guide him in the slow evolution of both the Brunello Annata and the Rosso.
The "Brunello Annata" and "Rosso di Montalcino" must be produced closer to the consumer, the goal is to reach elegance immediately, without having to wait decades. In my opinion, above all Rosso di Montalcino must be a slightly more round wine which must be consumed in the first 5/10 years of life and this can be done by leaving the characteristics of the grape unaltered, only by modifying some technological processes.
The Wine Advocate Interview
Post the acquisition, Monica Larner travelled to Il Greppo to speak with the Biondi-Santi management team regarding plans for the future. Whereas in the Oinos Viveredivino interview Jacopo had forsworn any actions that would affect grape-growing, herein he was touting the fact that EPI investments (4 million Euros over a 2- to 3-year timeframe) would allow a "more complex analysis of vineyard soil." According to Jacopo, as a result of soil scans taken at differing depths, the vineyard had been divided into dozens of micro-parcels, leading to 12 separate vinifications in the 2019 vintage.
In the Oinos interview he had said no change to the Riserva; not so much now. Beginning with the 2018 vintage he was doing away with its prior spec of > 25-year-old vines in order to "allow flexibility based on vineyard analysis."
Other initiatives afforded by the EPI investment include:
- The purchase of an optical sorter (adding another step in the selection process)
- More static pumps and technologies for automatic temperature control
- Replacement of two larger oak casks with smaller botte from Garbellotto (move toward micro-vinification)
- Some replantation.
The Biondi-Santi Direction: As Stipulated by Current Management
One clear area of difference from Jacopo's thought-process is in the direction of the Brunello Annata and Rosso di Montalcino wines. Jacopo proposed reviewing the harvest period, fermentation, and aging of these wines to guide him in their "slow evolution." He wanted both wines to "reach elegance immediately, without having to wait decades" and for the Rosso to "be a slightly more round wine which must be consumed in the first 5/10 years of life." Current management clearly refutes those positions with the statement that they are "Not trying to change the personality of the Biondi-Santi wines."
I reached out to Biondi-Santi to see if the maceration period specified by Jacopo in the Wine Spectator story still held and the winemaker provided the following response:
The maceration period (from de-rasping to racking off the skins) is different each year depending on the weather patterns of the growing season and varies for each vineyard plot. It cannot be standardized. What we can say is that it is not in the Biondi-Santi DNA to push macerations, as you can see from the always bright red color of our Brunello and elegant tannic structure.
Biondi-Santi management countersigns the gist of Jacopo's Wine Advocate interview while providing further details and rationale. The soil analysis is rationalized as being driven by the desire to take the concept of quality to ever higher levels." Today the three wines are selected based on vine age but an understanding of the soil characteristics and contribution to the finished product would provide a scientific basis for final wine construction.
Towards that end, they have embarked on a vineyard "parcellization" project, the intent of which is to "allow them to become even more precise in the definition of the grape profile for each wine." The steps in the process are as follows:
- Soil scans of all vineyards to get an initial picture of its clay, rock, and water content
- Cross reference above data with NDVI maps which measure the vegetation vigor of the vineyards
- Use the foregoing as the basis for digging 32 deep pits in the vineyards
- Soils data evaluated by the noted terroir expert Pedro Parra.
The analysis identified interesting plots which then received special attention during harvest, fermentation, and aging of the 2019 vintage. "Keeping these plots separate throughout the production process allows us to study not only the quality, but more importantly the character traits of the wines which come from our micro-terroirs." A total of 12 of these parcel fermentations were conducted. The intent of the project is to, at the end of the day, "build a veritable grid map of our vineyards, their soil, and the characteristics of the wines they give."
Soil analysis of the type on which Biondi-Santi has embarked is almost a requirement in today's wine world. The Ceechi Family for example, as a first order of business after acquiring Villa Rosa of Castellina in Chianti, undertook a detailed soil analysis as a mechanism for identifying crus and guiding planting decisions. The quality of Biondi-Santi decision-making and wines can only improve as a result of undertaking this effort.
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