Photo by Rick Wenner

Tancredi Biondi-Santi,  7th generation family member at this historic property sat down with Wine Spectator’s Bruce Sanderson and around 1,000 Brunello fans at the recent New York Wine Experience for a master class in Brunello and a tasting of select vintages dating back to 1983. Read a few key passages from Wine Spectator below:

“One family. One estate. One clone of Sangiovese. Fermentation with native yeasts, 36 months of aging in Slavonion oak casks, two years of aging in bottle. “Every riserva is vinified in the same way,” said seventh-generation family member Tancredi Biondi Santi at Saturday’s four-vintage vertical tasting of Biondi-Santi Brunello di Montalcino Tenuta Greppo Riserva. This is as traditional as Brunello gets, with most elements of its production carried through over decades and many going back to the very first vintage of the wine, 1888. The wine even spends some time in five barrels from the 1880s…”

“Senior editor Bruce Sanderson started the seminar with a bit of history. Clemente Santi made the first known red wine to bear the name Brunello; the reference dates to 1865. His grandson, Ferruccio Biondi Santi, cultivated a selection of Sangiovese plants that resisted phylloxera, and his son, also Tancredi, homed in on a specific clone…

“…Tenuta Greppo Riserva has only been produced 38 times, in the best vintages. It is sourced from the oldest vines in four plots around Montalcino, totaling 65 acres…”

“The 1997 (95 points) benefited from a temperate spring and warm summer; it showed a bit more evolution, with spice, tobacco and iron notes. 1990 brought a rainy spring and hot summer to Montalcino; that vintage (97 points) showed even more secondary and tertiary notes of balsamic, truffle and forest…”

“Finally, the 1983 (93), from a vintage with a comparatively early summer and harvest, had come into its own, with all elements harmonized in a “very balanced” structure…”

“We call them ‘meditation wines…’” Then, bringing the audience back to 2018, he took a selfie in front of the ballroom crowd before leaving the stage.”

Read the article at Wine Spectator