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Topping up is an exclusive and valuable operation, performed at Greppo between 1927 and 1990, only for the estate-owned bottles of Reserve Biondi Santi stored in the Estate Cellar.
“We have never found a bottle of imperfect wine!! This is because it is stored in perfect conditions.”
Since 1990, Franco Biondi Santi has decided to perform this operation also for the bottles of Brunello di Montalcino Reserve Biondi Santi owned by his clients.
To accomplish this operation, the owners of the bottles must sign the “Topping Up Regulations” (the last – in 2008 – for the following vintages: 1945, 1955, 1961, 1964, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1975, 1977, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1985).
From 1990 to 2008, 2,949 bottles belonging to customers were brought to be topped up. Unfortunately 353 of them were found to be defective, due to incorrect storage conditions, and therefore declassed.
This operation is performed to check the state of conservation of the wine in order to extend its life for decades.
Topping up is necessary because, due to very long periods of ageing, the cork loses its elasticity and cohesion, ceasing to adhere perfectly to the glass. The level of wine in the bottle gradually diminishes, making it necessary to bring it back to the correct level and change the cork.
After the visual, olfactory and gustative inspection, the bottle is topped up, taking wine from a bottle of Reserve of the same vintage from the private collection of Franco Biondi Santi, stored in optimum conditions in the estate cellars. The subsequent re-corking with new Biondi Santi branded corks and the application of the hood bear witness to the validity of the wine, which is accompanied by the issue of a certificate. Any bottles which are found to be unsuitable are returned to their owners without being topped up, re-corked with unbranded corks and without hoods.
The current cost of this operation is established in relation to the amount of wine used to top up the bottle (averaging at 10-15 grams at a cost of € 7.92 per gram for 1945, € 6.81 for 1955, € 0.65 for 1985) and the time it takes the Cellar staff of the Greppo Estate to perform the topping up operations.
The Greppo cellar in Montalcino provides a resting place, in excellent conditions, for two bottles of Reserve 1888, five bottles of Reserve 1891, three bottles of Reserve 1925, 22 bottles of Reserve 1945 and 733 bottles of Reserve 1955, among others. |
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