Biondi-Santi Brunello di Montalcino Riserva 2016

The family that made Brunello

Brunello di Montalcino begins with one family at one estate, Il Greppo. Clemente Santi, a pharmacist and scientific writer, wanted a wine that could age. He showed a 'pure red wine of 1852' at a Tuscan fair, and in 1865 he bottled a wine he called 'Brunello,' which he exhibited at the Paris Exposition of 1867 and at Montepulciano in 1869, where it won two silver medals.

His grandson Ferruccio Biondi joined the family names, selected a superior form of Sangiovese known as Sangiovese Grosso, and bottled it alone, without the field blends common at the time. He was the first to call his wine Brunello di Montalcino, and his 1888 bottling is counted as the first Riserva and the first commercial oak-aged Brunello. He was an early believer in lower yields, denser planting, native yeasts and long aging in big Slavonian oak barrels, which the estate still uses.

Ferruccio's son Tancredi, born in 1893, turned the wine into an icon. He promoted Biondi-Santi, and Brunello with it, abroad; the 1955 Riserva was served to the young Queen Elizabeth. He commissioned the Montalcino artist Vittorio Zani to design the black label, little changed since 1945, and moved the wine out of the traditional straw-covered fiasco into an international bottle. In 1927 he began the 'ricolmatura,' the periodic topping up and recorking of old Riservas at the estate. In 1936 he planted the oldest Sangiovese plot still at Il Greppo.

The family never trademarked 'Brunello di Montalcino.' According to the estate's current chief executive, they wanted other producers to learn how to make it.

Franco, Jacopo and the sale

Franco Biondi-Santi inherited the estate in 1970. Through the 1980s and 1990s, while younger Montalcino producers chased riper, darker wines aged in small French barriques, he refused, arguing that Sangiovese did not need the extra oak. He was criticized for it at the time. In the 1970s his clonal selection produced BBS11, a Sangiovese Grosso clone registered by the estate and later planted across Montalcino. It is the sole grape of the 2016 Riserva.

Franco and his son Jacopo fell out in the early 1990s, and Jacopo left to build his own estate, Castello di Montepo, in the Maremma. Franco made his last vintage in 2012 and died in 2013 at 91. Jacopo then took charge of Il Greppo.

In late 2016 the family agreed to sell a majority stake to EPI, the French group of Christopher Descours, which also owns the Charles Heidsieck and Piper-Heidsieck Champagne houses. Accounts date the deal to December 2016, with the announcement in January 2017. An Italian financial daily valued it at 107 million euros, including the brand, the Tenuta Greppo property and 26 hectares of Sangiovese. Jacopo reportedly kept a small stake and stayed on for a time with his son Tancredi. Both later left, and today no family member works at the estate.

That makes 2016 the hinge vintage. One account calls the 2016 Riserva the last vintage Jacopo Biondi-Santi had a hand in, and the 2017 the first made entirely by the new team. A British critic's review, by contrast, describes the 2016 as managed by technical director Federico Radi under the new ownership. Both may be true for a wine harvested in the autumn the sale was agreed.

The 2016 season

The estate describes a rainy winter and a fairly wet but mild spring, followed by a sunny, stable summer with temperatures below the seasonal average. Rain between late August and early September lengthened the run-up to harvest, allowing very slow, balanced ripening helped by wide swings between day and night temperatures. Picking began on September 19, more than a week later than the estate's norm.

Critics rank the vintage among the best in memory. The Wine Advocate's reviewer called the 2016 growing season 'one of the best in recent memory in Montalcino,' and Decanter's review called 2016 'one of the best vintages of the past 20 years in Tuscany.' Federico Radi, the estate's technical director, said that in a warm year Biondi-Santi's position 'in the cooler part of Montalcino offered great acidity.'

For the Riserva, the estate used only grapes from its oldest parcels. They were fermented in vertical Slavonian oak vats with indigenous yeasts from the estate's own vineyards, aged three years in large Slavonian oak barrels and then rested two more years in bottle before release.

Release, reviews and the library

The 2016 Riserva was launched at a dinner at The Ritz in London on November 8, 2022, hosted by chief executive Giampiero Bertolini alongside older Riservas back to 1975. It went on sale in the United States in March 2023, released together with the 2017 Brunello, at $800 a bottle.

The reviews were among the strongest the estate has received. The Wine Advocate scored it 99 in May 2023, calling it 'a mighty collector's bottle.' James Suckling gave it 98 in December 2022 and called it a 'new classic' that needed another five years or so. Jeb Dunnuck and Wine Spectator also scored it 98. Vinous, writing in late 2022, gave 96. Decanter's review is shown at 96 on one retail page and 97 in that same page's summary. The World of Fine Wine, tasting at the London launch, gave 95.

Biondi-Santi keeps back at least 30 percent of each year's production, a practice the new owners continue. Riserva bottles rest unlabeled in 'La Storica,' a dark library room in the Greppo cellar, sealed with a drop of beeswax. A bottle is dressed only when it leaves, with its vintage's original label and a numbered neck label, and the departure date is handwritten on the back label. Bottles topped up and recorked under the ricolmatura carry a certificate around the neck.

In October 2026 a U.S. retailer lists the 2016 Riserva at $725 a bottle, out of stock, and a price aggregator shows an average retail asking price of $757 per 750ml before tax.

How rare is a Riserva

The Riserva is made only in exceptional years, from vines over 25 years old. The estate's own vintage page calls 2016 'the 42nd Riserva produced from 1888 until today.' Counts elsewhere vary with when they were written: the estate's general Riserva page says 40 releases, a 2021 profile said the 2012 was the 39th, and the U.S. importer now says 43.

Quantities are small. One estate profile says a Riserva runs to no more than about 15,000 bottles, roughly a third of the regular Brunello. The whole estate makes 60,000 to 80,000 bottles a year, depending on the vintage. No source consulted gives the exact 2016 Riserva bottle count.

Accounts of the vineyard also differ by date: 25 hectares in the importer's sheet, 26 in two estate profiles, 27 over four sites before recent purchases. Since buying higher vineyards at about 500 meters, the estate says it farms 32.6 hectares within a property of about 150 hectares.

The numbers

Vineyard

26 ha of Sangiovese at the 2016 sale; 32.6 ha today on a property of about 150 ha

Estate production

60,000 to 80,000 bottles a year; a Riserva is usually no more than about 15,000

Riserva number

42nd since 1888

Clone

BBS11 Sangiovese Grosso

Aging

36 months in Slavonian oak, then two years in bottle

The Wine Advocate

99 (May 2023)

James Suckling

98 (December 2022)

Jeb Dunnuck

98 (March 2023)

Wine Spectator

98 (June 2023)

Vinous

96 (Eric Guido, 2022)

The World of Fine Wine

95 (Anthony Rose, November 2022)

Timeline

1. 1865

   Clemente Santi bottles a wine he calls 'Brunello' at Il Greppo; it is shown in Paris in 1867.

2. 1888

   Ferruccio Biondi-Santi makes the first Brunello di Montalcino Riserva.

3. 1927

   Tancredi Biondi-Santi begins the ricolmatura, topping up and recorking old Riservas.

4. 1936

   Tancredi plants the estate's oldest surviving Sangiovese plot.

5. 1970

   Franco Biondi-Santi inherits the estate; his clonal work leads to BBS11.

6. 1999

   A U.S. magazine names the 1955 Riserva among the 12 best wines of the 20th century.

7. 2013

   Franco dies at 91; the 2012 is his last vintage. Jacopo takes over.

8. Sep 19, 2016

   Harvest begins for the 2016 vintage, more than a week later than usual.

9. Dec 2016

   EPI, the group of Christopher Descours, takes a majority stake; the deal is announced in January 2017.

10. 2018

    Giampiero Bertolini joins as chief executive; soil specialist Pedro Parra begins a parcel study.

11. Nov 8, 2022

    The 2016 Riserva is launched at a dinner at The Ritz, London.

12. Dec 2022

    James Suckling scores it 98: 'New classic.'

13. Mar 2023

    U.S. release alongside the 2017 Brunello, at $800 a bottle.

14. May 2023

    The Wine Advocate scores it 99.

15. Jun 30, 2023

    Wine Spectator's review appears, rating it 98.

16. Oct 2026

    A U.S. retailer lists it at $725; the average asking price is $757 per bottle.

The world in 2016

• Jun 23, 2016

  The United Kingdom votes to leave the European Union.

• Aug 5, 2016

  The Summer Olympics open in Rio de Janeiro.

• Aug 24, 2016

  A magnitude 6.2 earthquake strikes central Italy, killing 299 people.

• Nov 2, 2016

  The Chicago Cubs win their first World Series since 1908.

• Nov 8, 2016

  Donald Trump is elected president of the United States.

• Dec 4, 2016

  Italy rejects a constitutional referendum, and Prime Minister Matteo Renzi resigns.

Price record

This is an asking price, not a sale. It is what a seller wanted on the date shown. Asking prices often sit above what buyers pay, but an ask is not a ceiling: a sale can land on either side of it. It is not a value.

By reference price, Biondi-Santi Brunello di Montalcino Riserva 2016 is number 57 of 100 in the wine entries of the FLOAT 100. 12 of those 100 rest on a realized sale; the rest carry an asking price or a guide value, and each page says which. Rank within the FLOAT 100 itself (43 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.

Did you know

• Clemente Santi's 1865 'Brunello' was shown at the 1867 Paris Exposition, more than 20 years before the first Riserva.
• The family never trademarked the name Brunello di Montalcino, so any producer in the zone could use it.
• Unsold Riservas sit unlabeled in a dark cellar room called La Storica; each gets its label and a handwritten departure date only when it leaves.
• The estate still tops up and recorks its old Riservas, a practice Tancredi Biondi-Santi began in 1927.
• Franco Biondi-Santi was criticized for refusing small French barrels in the 1980s and 1990s; the estate still ages in large Slavonian oak.
• The BBS11 clone in this wine came from Franco's selection work in the 1970s and was later planted across Montalcino.