“Wine is not an asset,” declared Tancredi Biondi Santi, the seventh generation of Italy’s storied Biondi Santi family. “If you purchase wine just for the value in 10 years, you’re just a broker, you’re not a wine lover.” Biondi Santi knows a thing or two about value in the wine industry. The Biondi Santis are best known for creating the Brunello di Montalcino style of wine, made from Sangiovese. Now, Tancredi and his father Jacopo run Castello di Montepó, the family’s estate in Maremma.
Often, the higher end of the wine market relies on its brand name, Mondavi or Taittinger, for example. And while Biondi Santi does have name recognition, the family sold part of their eponymous label to Christopher Descours of EPI and decided to shift their focus to Castello di Montepó in 2019.
Tancredi Biondi Santi on Bringing an Italian Wine Legacy into the Future
Some of this change comes from the fact that the Biondi Santis saw the writing on the wall of the wine industry. If you attempt to survive on name alone, the only people you’ll reach are the highest of the highest. Biondi Santi referred to that as “a niche of a niche of a niche.” Wineries that rest on their high end laurels can sustain themselves on that niche, but there’s then little room for change.
The generation that wants to age wines in cellars indefinitely, with more bottles than they could ever possibly drink, can’t be the future of the wine. “In a moment where alcohol and wine are compressing a lot, it’s missing the middle. There’s only lower end and high end,” Biondi Santi explained. The higher end will always be around, but where there’s room for growth is towards the middle.
A New Approach to Regionality
This doesn’t mean that they’ve pivoted towards being something generic or compromising on quality. Wine probably will never be a general interest topic, nor should it be. In the United States at least, it thrives on being something for special occasions where hobbyists can geek out and deepen their knowledge. But Biondi Santi pointed to some of the wine regions with the most longevity—Bordeaux, Champagne, and even Mosel—as developing hyper-local subdivisions within their geography and always focusing on what’s next. Biondi Santi saw other winemakers doing this in Italy, while his family was not. Because of the legacy appeal of their brand, it was a risk to move away from a ubiquitous name to really innovating their production.
The Biondi Santis’ Brunello di Montalcino is Italy’s highest DOCG classification, established in 1980 with the Sangiovese clone that evolved into Brunello. So, Biondi Santi sees hyper-specificity about soil and altitude, an optimal relationship between the grape and the terroir, as a way for viticulture to improve and the market to diversify. “At Castello di Montepó, we have a vision of studying,” Biondi Santi said. “We don’t have to get stuck. Castello di Montepó can be a future for our family without polluting tradition.”
The intellectual and scientific study of wine is paramount to the family’s success. The elder Biondi Santi, Jacopo, has been fine-tuning a clone, Sangiovese Grosso BBS 11, observing where it grows best. On 52 hectares of land, they produce roughly 200,000 bottles a year. For each wine, they can tell you with startling detail exactly what the soil is like and the slope of the hill it was on. There’s something for everyone, from the prestigious 1997 Schidione Millennio to the more accessible Sassoalloro, named for a volcanic rock that fuels local legends.
Communication is Key
“The sommelier world has taken a massive step forward because it’s not as intimidating anymore to pop a bottle,” Biondi Santi said. While the soil science and the ins and outs of viticulture are important, Biondi Santi said that what the industry really needs is skilled communicators who can help people enjoy fine wines for what they are their core: sources of pleasure.
“We need to communicate that wine is a pleasure. And we also need to drive home that you have to drink it. If you have the money, buy a back-vintage of wine, or age it for a little bit. But it needs to be drinkable,” he said. He compared it to the world of fine watches and cars, investments that often sit in a vault unused. “Why not drive the Ferrari 250 GC to a coffeeshop? Enjoy what you have,” he said. “We live in such a fast world, and we want to enjoy the time we have.”
As to why consumers should gravitate towards Castello di Montepó’s production, Biondi Santi prefers to let the bottles speak for themselves. “Our wines are based in history and the study of the grapes. The family is now going to have a new chapter. But I could give you a billion reasons to pop the bottle and at the end of the day, the wine is just good. That’s it.” Importer Jason Grant of Medici Importers Global, who brought Biondi Santi to Pennsylvania, described the Montepó wines as “memory making wines” not just “a space filler” for cellars. Brunello is a wine for lovers and pleasure seekers, representative of the values at the heart of Italian winemaking. Drink good wine and live well. Don’t we all need a little more of that?
Story by Emma Riva
Photo courtesy of Castello di Montepó
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