Biondi-Santi

Clemente Santi owned the Fattoria Il Greppo and was a chemist by trade. Between 1865 and 1869 the owners of a few Montalcino farms intensified their vinification of Brunello grapes and aged the wine in barrels, and in 1869 Clemente Santi's 1865 vintage received a silver medal from the Agrarian Committee of Montepulciano, the first recognition for a wine called Brunello. He persuaded other landowners of the area and Ferruccio Biondi Santi to follow his example. Biondi-Santi credits Clemente Santi and Ferruccio Biondi Santi with producing barrel-aged single-varietal wines in Montalcino in the nineteenth century from Sangiovese grosso. Bottles of the 1888 vintage, the first wine officially labeled Brunello di Montalcino, are still preserved in the estate's cellar. Tancredi Biondi Santi succeeded his father Ferruccio and in 1926 created the Cantina Sociale Biondi Santi e C., which sent wine as far as the United States; he replanted Sangiovese and set up his winery to produce only quality wines. Franco Biondi Santi (d. 2013), father of Jacopo Biondi Santi, had a long stewardship of the estate.

• Clemente Santi: owner of the Fattoria Il Greppo and a chemist by trade; his 1865 vintage received a silver medal from the Agrarian Committee of Montepulciano in 1869.
• 1888: the vintage of the first wine officially labeled Brunello di Montalcino; bottles are preserved in the Biondi-Santi cellar.
• 1926: Tancredi Biondi Santi created the Cantina Sociale Biondi Santi e C., which sent wine as far as the United States.
• Brunello di Montalcino obtained the DOC in 1966 and in 1980 became the first Italian wine to have the DOCG.

Biondi-Santi was owned by one family from its inception in the nineteenth century until 2016. EPI (Européenne de Participations Industrielles), the Paris-based group owned by France's Descours family and owner of Charles Heidsieck and Piper-Heidsieck Champagne since 2011, bought a majority stake in a deal agreed on 16 December 2016. The price was not disclosed, and the Biondi Santi family kept a minority stake. At the time, Jacopo Biondi Santi was to continue as president, with his son Tancredi also involved. EPI later took full control of the estate. As of November 2021, Federico Radi was the winemaker; he arrived in early 2017 and had previously made wines at Isole & Olena in Chianti Classico and at Mazzei's Belguardo estate in the Maremma. Giampiero Bertolini was CEO of Biondi-Santi Tenuta Greppo. In remarks reported in October 2026, Bertolini said of the estate: "We moved from a family-run business to a professionally managed company."

• Owner: EPI, the Descours family's group; majority stake agreed 16 December 2016, later full control.
• CEO: Giampiero Bertolini.
• Winemaker: Federico Radi (as of November 2021), at the estate since early 2017.
• Jacopo Biondi Santi, son of Franco, was to continue as president at the time of the 2016 deal.

Biondi-Santi is located northeast of Montalcino and has 33 hectares of vineyards divided among five plots, all in the northeastern area of the appellation, planted at higher altitudes on poor, galestro-rich soils. The estate classifies its grapes by soil characteristics, exposure, grape quality and the traits of each vintage rather than by vine age. Three historic vineyards, planted just after World War II and totalling about 2.5 acres, are the Il Greppo plot behind the winery, on the stony marl known locally as galestro; Moscatellaia, on clay-schist soils; and Crosina, on sandstone. Among its first steps, the team that arrived after the EPI purchase carried out in-depth studies of the soils and subsoils and a massal selection from the three historic vineyards. It stopped tilling the vineyards in summer in favour of parcel-specific cover crops, and as of 2021, under the guidance of agronomist Marco Simonit, it was moving away from cordon-trained, spur-pruned vines toward taller, more traditional training systems. As of 2021, 12 parcels were vinified separately.

• 33 hectares in five plots, northeast of Montalcino, on galestro-rich soils at higher altitudes.
• Historic plots: Il Greppo (galestro), Moscatellaia (clay-schist) and Crosina (sandstone).
• Grape selection by soil, exposure, grape quality and vintage rather than vine age.
• Parcel-specific cover crops in place of summer tilling; training guided by Marco Simonit.

Biondi-Santi makes three wines: Rosso di Montalcino, Brunello di Montalcino and Brunello di Montalcino Riserva. The Brunello is produced exclusively from estate-grown grapes, hand selected from the estate's high-altitude vineyards, fermented in cement vats with indigenous yeasts only and aged in large Slavonian oak casks. The 2020 Brunello was vinified in oak casks, concrete and stainless steel and aged in Slavonian oak casks for 24 months; the 2019 was aged in Slavonian oak barrels for 30 months. The Riserva is traditionally made only from vineyards more than 25 years old, and by the estate's count it has been released only 40 times since its first production in 1888. The 2019 Riserva was aged in Slavonian oak casks for 28 months. The Rosso traditionally comes from the youngest vines, is fermented in cement vats and is aged in oak for 12 months; it was originally known as the Biondi-Santi white label Brunello and became the estate's Rosso in 1983, when the Rosso di Montalcino DOC was established. By 2021 Radi had replaced some of the oldest ageing casks, dating back to the 1890s.

• Rosso di Montalcino DOC: youngest vines, cement vats, 12 months in oak.
• Brunello di Montalcino DOCG: estate-grown grapes, indigenous yeasts, large Slavonian oak casks.
• Brunello di Montalcino Riserva: traditionally from vineyards more than 25 years old.
• Some of the oldest ageing casks, dating back to the 1890s, were replaced by 2021.

At the centre of the cellar at Tenuta Greppo is La Storica, the estate wine library that holds bottles of each Riserva vintage ever produced, stacked in small cells by vintage and sealed with a drop of beeswax on the cork. A Riserva is removed from La Storica only when it is sold. It is then dressed with the original label of its vintage, including la lunetta, the neck label that carries the number of each bottle, and the date it leaves the cellar is handwritten on the back label. A Riserva that has been topped up and re-corked in the past carries a topping-up certificate around its neck recording when this was done.

• La Storica holds bottles of each Riserva vintage ever produced.
• Bottles leave La Storica only when sold, with the original vintage label and a numbered neck label, la lunetta.
• Topped-up and re-corked bottles carry a topping-up certificate.

Biondi-Santi describes its Brunello as embodying the signature style of its winemakers, with a "balanced combination of fresh elegance, depth and aristocratic personality." It presents the Rosso as reflecting "the signature style of our high-altitude vineyards with a vibrant freshness" and a distinct fruitiness that makes it enjoyable young. Radi told Wine Spectator in 2021: "Climate change is evident, but Biondi-Santi Brunello must be a wine that is fresh and not high in alcohol."

Primary sources (producer's own sites): https://www.biondisanti.it/en/prodotti/vini/7/vini/77/brunello-di-montalcino, https://www.biondisanti.it/en/prodotti/vini/7/vini/79/brunello-di-montalcino, https://www.biondisanti.it/en/prodotti/vini/7/vini/76/rosso-di-montalcino, https://www.biondisanti.it/en/prodotti/vini/7/vini/77/index.php?p=prodotti&lg=en&id_cat=7&id_prod=77&a=2020, https://www.biondisanti.it/en/prodotti/vini/7/vini/77/index.php?p=prodotti&lg=en&id_cat=7&id_prod=77&a=2019, https://www.biondisanti.it/en/prodotti/vini/7/vini/79/index.php?p=prodotti&lg=en&id_cat=7&id_prod=79&a=2019, https://www.biondisanti.it/en/prodotti/vini/7/vini/76/index.php?p=prodotti&lg=en&id_cat=7&id_prod=76&a=2023. Official body: Consorzio del vino Brunello di Montalcino, https://www.consorziobrunellodimontalcino.it/en/1403/biondi-santi-tenuta-greppo, https://www.consorziobrunellodimontalcino.it/en/590/, https://www.consorziobrunellodimontalcino.it/en/1746/1861-2011-150-years-of-italian-history-and-150-years-of-wine-history. Secondary sources: Decanter (Chris Mercer, 5 January 2017), https://www.decanter.com/wine-news/biondi-santi-sale-epi-group-352297/; Wine Spectator (20 December 2016), https://www.winespectator.com/articles/epi-purchases-majority-stake-in-biondi-santi-wine-estate; Wine Spectator (Robert Camuto, 2 November 2021), https://www.winespectator.com/articles/the-ghost-of-dr-franco; WineNews (7 October 2026), https://winenews.it/en/wine-looks-for-a-new-route-more-management-territory-balance-and-dialogue-with-youngsters_603646/. Last verified 2026-10-20. Where the producer's site and a secondary source disagree, the producer's site governs.