Franco Biondi Santi (January 11, 1922 – April 8, 2013) was an Italian winemaker, most known for producing

Brunello di Montalcino Brunello di Montalcino is a red DOCG Italian wine produced in the vineyards surrounding the town of Montalcino, in the province of Siena, located about 80 km south of Florence in the Tuscany wine region. Brunello, a diminutive of Bruno (" ...

, a red wine produced only in

Montalcino Montalcino is a hill town and ''comune'' in the province of Siena, Tuscany, central Italy. The town is located to the west of Pienza, close to the Crete Senesi in Val d'Orcia. It is from Siena, from Florence and from Pisa. Monte Amiata is loc ...

Tuscany Tuscany ( ; it, Toscana ) is a Regions of Italy, region in central Italy with an area of about and a population of about 3.8 million inhabitants. The regional capital is Florence (''Firenze''). Tuscany is known for its landscapes, history, art ...

Biography

Franco Biondi Santi was born in

in 1922, and died in 2013, survived by his wife Maria Floria, their children Jacopo and Alessandra, and four grandchildren.

Career

Franco Biondi Santi's grandfather, Ferruccio Biondi Santi, invented Brunello di Montalcino in the late 1800s. Franco himself learned the winemaking craft from his father, Tancredi. When Franco inherited the family’s Greppo estate in 1970, he kept to his father’s traditions while also improving quality.

Kerin O'Keefe Kerin O'Keefe is a wine critic specialized in Italian wine and author of four books. She reviews wines and writes articles on the growing areas, wines and producers for kerinokeefe.com. O'Keefe was Italian Editor for Wine Enthusiast from May 2013 ...

,
Franco Biondi Santi. The gentleman of Brunello
', Veronelli Editore, 2005, He remained at the helm of the family firm, Tenuta Il Greppo, until his death, overseeing every aspect of the vineyards and the winemaking.

, ''Brunello di Montalcino. Understanding and Appreciating One of Italy's Greatest Wines'',

University of California Press The University of California Press, otherwise known as UC Press, is a publishing house associated with the University of California that engages in academic publishing. It was founded in 1893 to publish scholarly and scientific works by faculty ...

, 2012. 299p. In July 1971 Burton Anderson, a young journalist for the

International Herald Tribune The ''International Herald Tribune'' (''IHT'') was a daily English-language newspaper published in Paris, France for international English-speaking readers. It had the aim of becoming "the world's first global newspaper" and could fairly be said ...

, went to visit Franco Biondi Santi at Tenuta Il Greppo in Montalcino after being inspired by his Brunello Riserva 1964. The meeting motivated him to write his first wine article on Biondi Santi's wines and inaugurated his career as a wine writer.Burton Anderson, ''Wine for people with patience'', International Herald Tribune, 1971 During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, Franco helped his father wall up the family’s old Riservas just before the Front passed through the area in 1944. Years later, he held a number of vertical tastings with these Riservas—going back to the late 1800s—that demonstrated the wine's aging capacity. The winery has maintained a non-interventionist approach in the cellar, fermenting the wine only by means of native yeasts and using only large, neutral Slavonian

casks A barrel or cask is a hollow cylindrical container with a bulging center, longer than it is wide. They are traditionally made of wooden staves and bound by wooden or metal hoops. The word vat is often used for large containers for liquids, u ...

, as

Sangiovese Sangiovese (, also , , ) is a red Italian wine grape variety that derives its name from the Latin ''sanguis Jovis'', "the blood of Jupiter". Though it is the grape of most of central Italy from Romagna down to Lazio (the most widespread grape i ...

is naturally rich in

tannins Tannins (or tannoids) are a class of astringent, polyphenolic biomolecules that bind to and precipitate proteins and various other organic compounds including amino acids and alkaloids. The term ''tannin'' (from Anglo-Norman ''tanner'', f ...

and does not need to be supplemented by the wood tannins imparted by small

barrique Oak is used in winemaking to vary the color, flavor, tannin profile and texture of wine. It can be introduced in the form of a barrel during the fermentation or aging periods, or as free-floating chips or staves added to wine fermented in a vess ...

s. He was always a defender of a 100%

Brunello di Montalcino, even at times when his wines were considered old-fashioned. In 1990 he led a campaign to successfully block a massive landfill planned for the outskirts of Montalcino that would have put Brunello production at risk.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Biondi Santi, Franco 1922 births 2013 deaths Italian winemakers Wineries of Italy People from Montalcino