Brunello di Montalcino: from wine to legend
Posted on 06. Sep, 2010 by admin in Archive, Culture, Food & Wine
In the sunny countryside of Siena there is a special enchanted hill which offers a perfect and still unspoilt panorama. It is Montalcino, a Sienese village with its own rocky summit which rises 564 meters above the Orcia valley: a name known world-wide today for its fine wines, especially Brunello di Montalcino.
Since the Middle Ages, this village has played an important role in Tuscany’s political scenario. One of the principal reasons is undoubtedly its oenological vocation: the local wines — both red and white — were very much appreciated even in those times.
Its origins are historically documented and define Brunello di Montalcino as the direct descendent of “vermiglio” which was widely produced in the terraced vineyards of the hills around Montalcino and described in detail in the “Chronicles” of the battles fought between Florence and Siena between the 1200′s and the 1500′s. In 1320, Brunello was not yet the name of a wine but of a stream running a wooded and hilly course towards the Abbey of Sant’Antimo.
Again in the early 1800′s, the term “Brunello” was used to indicate the red grape “Sangiovese grosso“, widespread in the hills around Montalcino. In those times, the scarce vegetation and the weakness of the vine were the main problems that the local wine producers had to face.
Again, in those days, the most well-known and prized wine in the region was a sweet white wine known as Moscadello di Montalcino and red wines were made by blending different varieties of red grapes. Through careful study and the skills of the wine makers who experimented with the vines, it was soon possible to make a high quality red wine from one grape only. In the second half of the 1800′s, considerable advances were made in wine making by Clemente Santi and later by his nephew Ferruccio Biondi (son of Jacopo Biondi and Caterina Santi, who added his maternal surname to his own to become Biondi-Santi).
They cultivated a carefully cloned selection of Sangiovese vines to produce a wine from one grape only and in 1865, they produced the first ever single-grape vintage known. Aging for long periods in wood produced an intense ruby red wine verging on pomegranate; an intense, persistent and ethereal bouquet and an elegant, harmonious and dry body which already then was considered superior to the average red wines.
The wine was given the name of the grape used in its production, Brunello. Ferruccio Biondi-Santi was labelled as the “Padre del Brunello” or Father of Brunello. Brunello is also appreciated for its longevity and the oldest bottle in existence dates from 1888 and is jealously conserved by the Biondi-Santi family. In 1917, Tancredi, a true oenologist inherited the “Azienda del Greppo” from his father Ferruccio and thus elevated Brunello to the “Gotha of fine wines”.
The true entrance of Brunello into the international scenario of fine wines was in the last decade of the 1900′s, mainly due to perfecting the quality of the wine and the prestige obtained by making the wine known to a network of international specialists.
The decision to make this wine into a true “thoroughbred” by using a single grape and substituting the traditional flask shaped bottle with a Bordeaux bottle ̶ the only recipient able to conserve this precious wine ̶ were determining factors in the success of this singular wine. In 1980, Brunello di Montalcino was the first Italian wine to receive Certification as a Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita (DOCG) (Controlled and Guaranteed Designation of Origin).
This is how Brunello di Montalcino has become a legend today.
Official Website of Consorzio Brunello di Montalcino: www.consorziobrunellodimontalcino.it
