100/100 to Brunello di Montalcino Riserva 2012 Biondi-Santi, at the top for “Wine Enthusiast”

“Nature is able to create great things, you just have to wait”: it is enclosed in the words of Franco Biondi Santi, its creator and to whom the whole essence of Brunello di Montalcino Riserva 2012 by Biondi-Santi, the brand that invented Brunello at the end of the nineteenth century at Tenuta Greppo in Montalcino, today owned by the French Epi group of the Descours family, at the top of the world for international critics with the recognition of 100/100 of “Wine Enthusiast”, is dedicated. For Kerin O’Keefe, one of the most authoritative wine tasters in the world, Italian Editor of the prestigious American magazine, “it is the Biondi-Santi Riserva par excellence, which reflects the style that has made the company famous, but clearly shows Franco’s distinctive trait of extreme elegance”.
“In 2012 this level of finesse was not easy to achieve,” writes O’ Keefe in the newsletter to be published on March 16 and then in the May edition of “Wine Enthusiast”, anticipated by WineNews, “overall the vintage was characterized by a hot growing season, but the rains at the end of August and beginning of September restored balance to the grapes. Despite the high summer temperatures, the 2012 Riserva di Biondi-Santi shows remarkable freshness and balance, thanks in part to the altitude and position of the winery’s vineyards, where cool night-time temperatures cool the grapes. But the credit also goes to Franco and his unshakeable faith in early harvesting to preserve acidity levels. These levels of acidity, which often translate into a certain “youthful austerity” in the first decade after the harvest, are fundamental for producing wines characterized by longevity, depth, and elegance. 2012 is a classic wine and boasts seductive aromas of roses, underbrush, wild red fruits, new leather and base notes of chopped mint. The palate is chiseled, characterized by marasca cherry, pomegranate, orange peel, star anise and a hint of tobacco enclosed in taut, smooth tannins. The strong acidity gives this Reserve youthful tension and keeps it impeccably balanced. Even if it needs a few more years to develop and relax completely, it won’t be decades before you can enjoy this captivating wine. While it will continue to evolve in the years to come, today it is pure pleasure to ripen the combination of youthful tension and juicy fruit in the wine. The most complex aromas, tertiary, flint, goudron, carob and the most pronounced notes of pipe tobacco will develop in the coming decades”.

Focus - About Tenuta Greppo of the Biondi Santi family
The Greppo estate of the Biondi Santi family is a legend, of Montalcino and Italian wine. Because it is in the historic cellar that, from the end of the nineteenth century when the young Garibaldino Ferruccio invented Brunello to the present day, the members of the family, from generation to generation, have passed the witness of the keeper of the tradition of this great wine capable of aging at the perfection, with class and elegance (the proof in the first and very precious bottles of Brunello Riserva 1888 and 1891 preserved in the cellar vault, of inestimable value). And each has passed on to Brunello’s vintages a bit of its character, such as the Riserva 1955 which, which entered history forever as the only Italian wine among the best of the twentieth century, is the perfect synthesis. When Franco Biondi Santi, lord of the wine of the past, one of the biggest wine producers, left us - it was 2013 - he also left an important legacy. In the bottle and in a splendid bottle: his latest Riserva, whose release on the market was expected in 2019, but Biondi-Santi has decided to wait another year to give this wine still some time to refine and find its ideal balance, before revealing itself to the world. Under the front label, the Brunello di Montalcino Riserva 2012, reports a dedication to Franco Biondi Santi and around the neck a pendant that tells of his successes.