My original plan was to follow up on an initial post titled "Biondi-Santi: Then and Now" with a post on some of the older Biondi-Santi wines that I have tasted. I did launch that initial post but pulled it in order to include some new information that has been provided to me; information which assuages some of my concerns and will be welcomed by Biondi-Santi fans. Even though I have not completed the updating of my initial post, I will go ahead and release this post as it is not impacted by the new information.
The current Biondi-Santi Montalcino holdings are shown in the chart below.
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 wines were 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. 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.
Below is a reprise of selected Biondi-Santi wines that I have tasted over the years (I am a big fan of the wines of this estate.). With the exception of the 2010 vintage, all wines were acquired from Italian Wine Merchants.
Biondi-Santi Annata 2010. Drunk more times than I can count with my initial exposure being the Antonio Galloni NYC tasting of top 2010 Brunellos. This wine was the best of its flight that night but continues to request time. Sweet red fruit with leather and earth becoming more pronounced over time. Medium-bodied with good structure. Lengthy finish. Will continue to give pleasure well into the future.
 |
| Biondi-Santi Annata 2010 |
Biondi-Santi Annata 2006. Drunk three times: once with Ron, once at a friend's home in Windermere, and the third time at an Earl's Kitchen lunch with my wife and her good friend. At the time that we tasted the wine, Ron thought that it was pretty tight with a tannic structure that needed an hour of air for it to begin to open. Light-bodied. Showing notes of tart red cherry, leather, dried herbs and tobacco.
 |
| Biondi-Santi Annata 2006 |
1990 Biondi-Santi Riserva. Rich, powerful wine. Funk cleared to reveal red fruit, herbs, and florality. Savory on the palate along with balsamic notes. Fine-grained tannins. Lengthy finish.
 |
| 1990 Biondi-Santi Riserva |
1985 Biondi-Santi drunk at a Luma dinner. Fine-boned. Cherries, spices, leather, vanilla, and tobacco on the nose. Lean on the palate with silky tannins and a mineral streak. Lengthy, sour finish.
 |
| 1985 Biondi-Santi |
1985 Biondi-Santi Riserva tasted at dinner at Peperoncini with Ron and Bev. An elegant wine. Plums, raspberries, rosemary, violets and cedar on the nose. Focused and balanced on the palate. Fine tannins. Herbs and mint and a lengthy finish.
Biondi-Santi Riserva 1977. Dinner with Ron and Bev at Enzo's. On this wine Ron got dried red fruits, balsamic, anise, and dried herbs. He was pleased with the acid level. He noted that "These Riserva's need a lot of time and this one has just reached its drinking window."
 |
| Biondi-Santi Riserva 1977 |
1978 Biondi-Santi. Dinner at the old Norman's at the Ritz-Carlton. This wine was up against stiff and powerful competition and probably did not get the attention that it deserved.Cherries, earth, leather and a savoriness on the nose. Earthy on the palate along with red fruit and a balsamic note. Fine tannins. Lengthy finish.
 |
| Biondi-Santi 1978 Brunello di Montalcino |
1970 Biondi-Santi Riserva. Birthday brunch for my wife and I made it an all Brunello affair. Slight oxidation on the nose. Leather, coffee, anise, and underbrush. Savory on the palate. Slightly tired. Drying finish. I have one more bottle of this wine left.
 |
| Biondi-Santi Riserva 1970 |
1961 Biondi-Santi Riserva. Earth, tea, spice, and a savoriness. Drying tamarind on the palate. Long, herby finish.
 |
| Biondi-Santi 1961 Riserva |
1958 Biondi-Santi Brunello Riserva. Tasted with Ron at Dinner at Terramia and then again at a larger dinner with friends at Victoria and Albert. Truly one of the best Brunellos that I have ever tasted (and definitely the oldest). As regards the V&A tasting, the wine was in really good shape. It started out almost Burgundian (one of my friends thought more like very old Barolo) and was both opulent and sexy. A nose of cherry, orange peel, and mushroom. On the palate, very rich red fruits, along with some balsamic and tobacco notes, perfect acidity and balance. The wine presented as being much younger than its years.
 |
| 1958 Brunello Riserva |
I love these wines. One of the hallmarks of the Biondi-Santi wines is its ageability. Franco's recorkings were legendary and, even though a number of the old Riservas were sold off to Sergio Esposito, the winery still has a noteworthy stable of old wines in its library.
No comments:
Post a Comment