BIONDI SANTI

Tenuta Greppo
Franco Biondi Santi

villa greppo 183
53024 montalcino
siena - italy

TEL. +39 0577 848087
FAX +39 0577 849396

BIONDISANTI@BIONDISANTI.IT

www.biondisanti.it
The new Tenuta Greppo - Biondi Santi web site in now on-line
03 Dec 2009
THE INTERNATIONAL PRESTIGE AND COMMERCIAL ACCLAIM OF BRUNELLO BIONDI SANTI
The most important and significant prestigious acknowledgements of Brunello del Greppo begin with the diploma attained by Clemente Santi at the Exposition Universelle de Paris of 1867 for his Moscadello.


Diploma Esposition
Universelle de Paris del 1867

It was only at the Agrarian Exhibition of Montepulciano in 1869 that "a select red wine (brunello) of 1865" was mentioned and received a prize, and that date probably marks the birth of this product characterised by such longevity, which was later to be consecrated with the two historical Reserves of 1888 and 1891.


Diploma Esposizione Agraria
di Montepulciano 1865

At the Regional Agrarian Contest of Siena in 1887, his grandson, Ferruccio Biondi Santi, received a prize for his “fine red wine” of 1884 and “fine red wine” of 1883. The 1932 report of the Interministerial Commission of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry for the Delimitation of the Chianti Wine District, recognises Brunello as "… a recent creation of Ferruccio Biondi Santi from Montalcino". In Rome, in 1925, came the turn of Ferruccio’s son, Tancredi Biondi Santi who won a gold medal for his “oeno-technical ability” at a National and International Contest.
In the book entitled “Vino al Vino” (Wine to Wine), Mario Soldati, making reference to the “secret” topping up of the Brunello done at Greppo in spring 1970, wrote: “…I fell to my knees as though witnessing a small miracle…”.

Tancredi’s outstanding oenological skill encouraged other winemakers from all over the Italian Peninsula to request his advice. These included Alberico Boncompagni Ludovisi, Prince of Venosa, who, after tasting the Brunello Biondi Santi 1946, wrote a letter to Tancredi dated 1966: “Dear Sir, I have thought about you repeatedly since tasting your famous ‘Brunello’ wine (of 1946) – which I had never tasted before – a short while ago.

National Geographic
I would like to inform you that I found your wine to be of the most superior quality, such as to merit consideration as one of – if not the only?! – great Italian wine, which I would like to describe, in my own way, as a majestic, severe, masculine, medieval red, a “primitive Senese” to compare it to the art created in the same part of Italy! I wish to express my sincerest congratulations upon your skill and valuable estate and hope that the passion for your most noble wine shall continue to descend “down through the branches” without ceasing!”
Franco Biondi Santi and Brunello del Greppo are discussed extensively in the article entitled “The Renaissance Lives on in Tuscany” by Luis Marden, published in the November 1974 issue of National Geographic. In 1988, during the official ceremony for the “Centenary” of Brunello Biondi Santi 1888, at Montalcino Conference Centre, in the presence of the authorities, the Ministers of the Republic, the Right Honourable Mannino, the Right Honourable Fanfani, and important members of the Italian wine world, the Mayor of Montalcino, Mario Bindi, presented Franco Biondi Santi with a gold medal for “merits earned by the Biondi Santi family”. Also during the Centenary celebrations, Franco, together with his son Jacopo and the Mayor of Montalcino, Mario Bindi, was received for a private audience by the President of the Italian Republic, Francesco Cossiga, to whom he gave a bottle of Brunello di Montalcino Reserve 1888.

Franco Biondi Santi with the President
of the Italian Republic, Francesco Cossiga
A mention must also go to the enchantment of the world’s 16 most authoritative wine critics (Wine, Vinum, Vinotheque, Wine Enthusiast, Decanter, etc… and the Italian Gambero Rosso, Civiltà del Bere and Luigi Veronelli) at the memorable vertical tasting held on the 28th of September 1994, when Franco Biondi Santi decided that the time had come to offer the mass media of wine the opportunity to really understand the importance of Brunello del Greppo, what it represents for Montalcino and its traditional typical characteristics, which are repeated decade after decade (1888, 1891, 1925, 1945, 1955, 1964, 1968, 1970, 1971, 1975, 1981, 1983, 1985, 1987, 1988). The supreme acknowledgement came from Belfrage, the journalist from Decanter, who gave a score of ten out of ten to the 1891 vintage (a 103 year-old wine!!). But undoubtedly the most prestigious acknowledgement in recent years has been that of “Wine Spectator”, one of the world’s most authoritative magazines, which included the Brunello di Montalcino Biondi Santi Reserve 1955 among the 12 best wines made in the world during the 20th century, the only Italian wine on the list. The article by James Suckling published in the prestigious magazine is entitled "Where would Italy be without the grand old wines of Biondi Santi?".
The World’s 12 best 20th century wines in this selection are: Chateau Margaux 1900, Chateau Petrus 1961, Quinta do Naval Vintage Port Nacional 1931, Inglenook Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley 1941, Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Romanée-Conti 1937, Brunello di Montalcino Biondi Santi Reserve 1955, Penfolds Grange Hermitage 1955, Chateau d’Yquem 1921, Heitz Cabernet Napa Valley Martha's Vineyard 1974, Chateau Mouton Rothschild 1945, Paul Jaboulet Ainé Hermitage La Chapelle 1961 and Chateau Cheval Blanc 1947.
Lastly, and as already mentioned, in December 2000, a bottle of Brunello di Montalcino Biondi Santi 1891 was sold at auction by Pandolfini of Florence, the auction having been organised in Rome by Gambero Rosso, for one of the highest figures in the history of wine in Italy: 29.5 million lire.