The 2016 Rosso di Montalcino hails from lower-elevation vineyards, around 250 meters, in the northern section of Montalcino. It’s a classic, layered and dramatic wine, showing bright cherry, sweet herbs, cooling mint, dried fall leaves, tobacco and savory spice, with a presence and depth that feels more like Brunello than Rosso in character. There’s sweetness and purity to the fruit here that keeps me coming back to the glass, yet I’m sure that the 2016 will benefit from a few years of cellaring, especially as its fine tannins build toward the close. The Rosso spends twelve months maturing

There’s a purity and savory refinement to the 2017 Rosso di Montalcino Tenuta Greppo that transcends the expectations of this warm and dry vintage. A perfumed display of wild strawberries, fresh roses, violets and a dusting of minerals lift up from the glass. Its textures are silky, carried across a feminine frame, with bright cherries and inner herbal tones that find vibrancy through a core of brilliant acidity. Nuanced tannins and dried berries linger, leaving a lightly structured yet very pretty impression....

A finely structured Rosso with firmness and density, showing plums and a hint of citrus. Medium body. Fresh finish. Drink now.

This is a fascinating red that evolves wonderfully with air from leather, mushroom and dusty aromas to dried flowers and plums. Medium body. Firm and lightly chewy tannins with intense acidity. Traditional, as always. Decanting recommended. Drink or hold.

A glorious nose to the wine with blackberries, plums, balsamic, mushrooms and bark. Floral. Some tile and terracotta undertones. Full-bodied with fine tannins and vivid, linear acidity running through the middle palate. Light toffee and smoke. Extremely long and lively. Traditional, yet very clean and beautiful. Drinkable now, but better after 2025.

Solidly built, featuring a dense matrix of tannins that underlines the cherry, plum, earth, leather and tobacco notes. Vibrant, with lively acidity streamlining the fruit, tobacco and wild herb accents on the finish. Best from 2023 through 2040.

I am immediately smitten by the Biondi-Santi 2016 Rosso di Montalcino thanks to the purity of the aromas on display. The bouquet literally submerges the senses in Sangiovese, with those delicate aromas of wild rose, violets, wet earth and brambly forest berry. Background notes of licorice, camphor ash and balsam herb come into steady focus. I am delighted by the intensity and the immense focus of this wine. This Rosso di Montalcino stands with the best of Brunello...

You will notice the dedication printed below the label of the wine label. It reads: "Dedicato a Franco Biondi Santi." Indeed, the Biondi-Santi 2012 Brunello di Montalcino Riserva is the last vintage made by the towering father figure of Brunello whom most everyone referred to as the "gentleman of Montalcino." Il Dottore, as he was also respectfully addressed, died at age 91 in April 2013, and he was very active in the winery as this magnificent wine took shape. This Riserva is a true work of beauty...

This 'primus inter pares' has seen some upheaval while changing into French hands a couple of years ago and might herald stylistic change not welcomed by admirers of this true custodian of traditional Brunello. This Rosso di Montalcino from an outstanding vintage, with great acidity and surprisingly soft tannins clinging to the concentrated fruit, seems less austere than in the past, but is still in a class of its own.

Pretty cherry, strawberry, juniper, wild rosemary, iron and sanguine aromas and flavors are welded to a firm structure. This is ripe and complex, with a fine aftertaste. Best from 2021 through 2036."

Made under the traditional Biondi Santi dispensation: from a fine vintage only and from vines of more than 25 years old, with an emphasis on the celebrated BS11 clone, with three years’ ageing in large wooden vessels and a further four in bottle before release. Many of Biondi Santi’s vineyards are high-sited, and harvesting is on the early side, giving wines which are emphatically more acidic than they are tannic. This Riserva is pale and translucent (though a little deeper in hue than the 2012 Annata wine), with finely composed aromas of vellum and sued...

Underbrush, wild berry, rose and camphor aromas waft out of the glass along with whiffs of rosemary and graphite on this medium-bodied red. It's linear, savory and balanced, delivering red-cherry, pomegranate, star anise and white-pepper flavors set against vibrant acidity and polished tannins. It shows breeding and finesse. It's ready now or you could hold for even more complexity. Drink through 2026.

This is a rich, flavorful Rosso with firm tannins and bright acidity. Medium body. Firm and beautiful. Hints of chocolate and spice. Drink or hold.

Plenty of iron, sanguine and wild herb aromas lead off, while flavors of plum and cherry prevail in this rich red. Firmly structured and balanced, with the lingering finish echoing the fruit, Tuscan scrub and mineral elements. Drink now through 2028.

The Riserva 2012 is a quintessential Biondi-Santi Riserva, reflecting not just the house style that made the firm famous, but it clearly shows Franco’s own hallmark of extreme elegance. The 2012 is a classic in the making, boasting enticing scents of rose, underbrush, wild red berry, new leather and underlying notes of crushed mint. It has a chiseled palate, featuring Morello cherry, pomegranate, orange zest, star anise and a hint of tobacco framed in taut, polished tannins. Firm acidity lends youthful tension and keeps it impeccably balanced.

Luminous garnet red. Perfumed nose of orange peel, cinnamon, sour red cherries, strawberries, talcum powder, and old fine leather, plus sneaky hints of slightly air-dried berries (not surprising, given how hot 2012 was, even taking into consideration that Biondi-Santi is one of the first estates to pick each year). Then juicy and dense with a silky mouthfeel to the flavors of red berries, blood orange and spices. Finishes long and silky now, but this specific Brunello Riserva was especially austere in its youth and so the estate decided to release it one year later than usual for sale...

The 2012 Riserva is the last vintage produced by Franco Biondi Santi, and so this release is dedicated to him. Of the 39 Riservas the estate has produced since the first one in 1888, Franco oversaw 24 of them. 2012 is considered a warm vintage, more dry than hot and with an advanced harvest on 10 September: quite early for a Sangiovese from higher vineyards in Montalcino. The age of the vines has helped to give the wine outstanding complexity. It shows the typical freshness of Biondi Santi with red currant, pomegranate and orris root aromas, becoming more austere on the palate...

Produced with fruit from the estate’s young vines (less than ten years old), this Rosso is firm, its flavors of cherry and raspberry gripped by cool, ferrous tannins. The flavors flesh out with air to reveal notes of savory herbs and cherry tomato that balance the fruit tones, but this will benefit from a few years of cellaring.

Il Greppo's 2015 Rosso di Montalcino is absolutely gorgeous. Sweet tobacco, dried red cherry, cedar, rosemary, mint and anise give the Rosso lovely aromatic complexity, but it is the wine's body and resonance that stand out most. A wine of real stature and depth, Biondi-Santi's 2015 Rosso is all class, not to mention a real overachiever in my tastings and a rare Rosso that delivers the goods big time. Sadly, it won't come cheaply.

This is the year dottore Franco Biondi Santi would pass away, leaving the Brunello appellation orphaned because he was its most beloved and respected paternal figure. A wine shaped very much in his memory, the 2013 Brunello di Montalcino is a stunning edition, with a tight inner core of wild fruit and natural acidity surrounded by elegant tones of blue flower, wild cherry, cured tobacco, balsam herb and camphor ash....