2011 Biondi Santi, Brunello di Montalcino, Tuscany

Biondi Santi is considered the “original” creator of Brunello. The first recorded mention of a Brunello was Clemente Santi’s award-winning 'select red wine (Brunello) of 1865' from his family’s Greppo estate in Montalcino at a local fair in 1867. The family has produced this wine continuously ever since, and bottles of 1888 Riservas still exist in the family cellars. As Brunello became popular and much more widely produced in the second half of the 20th century, with many producers pushing for shorter aging in smaller oak barrels or the addition of international grapes to the wines, Franco Biondi-Santi remained a staunch advocate of the traditional style of Brunello his family had crafted for over 100 years. Franco Biondi-Santi passed away in 2013 at the age of 91. His son and daughter, Jacopo and Alessandra, now helm the estate. Why do we like it? This is a wine that shows immediate fragrance, offering dried rose, cherry blossom, cigar leaf and dried herbs. The vintage was hot but this wine is showing great freshness! The tannins are balanced and the wine is so elegant and gentle! It is a wine demonstrating the class and talent of Biondi-Santi!    Grape           Sangiovese Country        Italy                                             Region          Tuscany, Brunello di Montalcino                                Vintage         2011