Tenuta Greppo (Biondi-Santi) Brunello di Montalcino 2019

No Brunello carries more history. Clemente Santi pioneered a single-variety Sangiovese in the mid-1800s, and his grandson Ferruccio Biondi-Santi bottled the first wine labelled Brunello di Montalcino from Tenuta Greppo in 1888. Ferruccio grafted only his best clones and replanted them at Il Greppo, the beginnings of the BBS11 clone now planted across Montalcino. For decades the estate was the only commercial producer of Brunello, and Ferruccio's son Tancredi helped write the DOC rules in 1966. Franco Biondi Santi, who ran the estate until his death in 2013, defended 100% Sangiovese when it was considered old-fashioned. The family sold to the French group EPI (Christopher Descours) in late 2016, and the same methods continue under Federico Radi. The Brunello is made only from estate-grown fruit at high altitude, around 564 metres, fermented in cement with indigenous yeasts, then aged about three years in large Slavonian oak barrels, with release now held back to six years after harvest.

The result is a pale, translucent, classically restrained Brunello. Expect red cherry, wild strawberry, dried herbs, tobacco and spice, with a mineral, savoury edge, taut acidity and fine, firm tannins.