The name Biondi-Santi is synonymous with the birth of Brunello di Montalcino. It was at the Biondi-Santi family estate, Tenute Il Greppo, that Ferrucio Biondi -Santi first barrel-aged 100% Sangiovese Grosso in 1888, thereby inventing Brunello di Montalcino as we know it today.
Biondi-Santi established its reputation for producing exceptional quality Brunello di Montalcino wines in a traditional style and in small quantities.
Regarded as a pillar of the Italian wine community and a staunch advocate for traditional wines and viticulture over the ensuing decades. It came as a shock to many when, in 2017, the last family owner, Jacopo Biondi-Santi, decided to sell the estate and related winery holdings to French firm EPI, owner of French Champagne houses Charles Heidsieck and Piper Heidsieck, along with Piper Sonoma one of California’s premier Sparkling wine producers. Thoughts of “what will they do with it? It will never be the same, etc.” ran through the opinion mill.
Biondi-Santi Tenute Greppo
Yet almost four years later the new owners have kept things much as they were while installing a new CEO of Biondi-Santi, wine industry veteran Giampiero Bertolini, and they’ve kept on Winemaker Federico Radi, who took the helm of production in 2017, to oversee the estate’s unique heritage and continuation of the original mission to make world-class wines of exceptional quality and small quantity.
At a dinner last October at One White Street restaurant in New York City, Federico Radi led us through an impressive vertical tasting of Biondi-Santi Brunello Riservas from 2016, 2013, 2012, 1999 and 1983. Radi explained that each was produced from Biondi-Santi’s proprietary BBS11 clone of Sangiovese Grosso, a significance as the first varietal in Montalcino to bear the name of its owner, and still rare. Radi discussed how Biondi-Santi utilizes massale selection to replant vineyards with cuttings from exceptional older vines to preserve their clonal identity.
Giampiero Bertolini, CEO, Biondi-Santi
We visited with Giampiero Bertolini on The Connected Table LIVE, to discuss the historic estate and the vision for the future. Born in Quito, Ecuador, Bertolini’s family to Italy when he was a young boy. After earning multiple business degrees, he spent ten years working at Proctor & Gamble taking on a succession of marketing roles with increasing responsibilities. During that time, he became acquainted with the Frescobaldi family who recruited him to join their firm. He spent 16 years at Marchesi de Frescobaldi group as Marketing Director at the beginning and then took over the responsibility of Global Marketing and Sales Director for four brands of the group.
Listen to our podcast with Giampiero Bertolini on The Connected Table here: