Brunello di Montalcino Riserva 2010

BIONDI-SANTI

Brunello di Montalcino Riserva
2010

Country
Italy
Regulated designation
Denominazione di origine controllata e garantita (DOCG)
Region
Tuscany
Appellation
Brunello di Montalcino
Classification
Riserva
Varietal(s)
Sangiovese grosso
Colour
Red
Sugar
Dry
Producer's website
Click here

About this winery

Biondi-Santi is synonymous with Brunello di Montalcino. Ferruccio Biondi-Santi first produced and bottled Brunello di Montalcino in 1865, using a superior clone of Sangiovese selected by his grandfather, Clemente Santi. Clemente had been experimenting with new winemaking methods and identifying vines capable of producing wines of exceptional quality. In the years that followed, Ferruccio’s Brunello earned significant international recognition. For decades, the Biondi-Santi family remained the...

See the BIONDI-SANTI detail page for more information on this brand

Press reviews

Wine Advocate

- 99 points -

Monica Larner, May 2023 (Vintage 2016)

Wow, here is a vintage I've been anxiously waiting to try. The 2016 growing season was one of the best in recent memory in Montalcino, and if we look back in time, this vintage marks the year Biondi-Santi was sold to a French group. The prestigious 2016 Brunello di Montalcino Riserva proves a mighty collector's bottle that will undoubtedly gain in complexity and depth with careful bottle age. The wine offers wild nuances of forest berry and tart cherry, and there are herbal side notes as well as floral tones of dried violet and lilac. The tannins are soft, powdery and feel like they melt away on the palate.

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Decanter

- 98 points -

Michaela Morris, November 2023 (Vintage 1988)

This bottling marks the 100-year anniversary of the creation of Brunello di Montalcino, and Franco Biondi Santi was very positive about the 1988 vintage, calling it exceptional. After an extremely wet spring, summer was warm with little rainfall and transitioned slowly to the dry, cool conditions at harvest. An exceptionally delineated nose starts with baking spice nuances of cinnamon and nutmeg, before evolving into dried tarragon and mint, then finally tobacco and black tea. Still laser-sharp, the palate is savoury in profile and shored up by steely and thrillingly upright tannins, yet there is a generosity to the fruit that hangs beautifully on the frame. This is ageing seamlessly.

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James Suckling

- 98 points -

September 2023 (Vintage 1988)

Aromas of antique furniture, spice, dried flowers and some dried cherries. Cooking spices, too. Medium-bodied, chewy and extracted, but it’s exciting to taste it with the chewiness that gives tension and focus. Spicy at the end, like nutmeg and cinnamon. Entrancing finish. Re-release March 2024.

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James Suckling

- 98 points -

August 2022 (Vintage 2016)

Aromas of strawberries, flowers, fresh mushroom, forest flower, sandalwood, and hints of balsamic. Full-bodied and tight on the finish. This is a linear and fine-tannined red. Available in March 2023. Needs another five years or so to show its full potential. New classic.

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Decanter

- 98 points -

November 2025 (Vintage 2010)

The only Riserva in the line up for this masterclass, Biondi-Santi's 2010 shouldn't be a pick for drinking now – instead, it demands more time in the bottle to allay its formidable structure, which is enhanced by the vintage conditions of the year. Dark cherry fruit with a hint of meatiness is framed by those closed-rank grape and wood tannins. Sturdy yet with a glimpse of succulence and a streak of salinity, make sure you're there when it's time for this dark and herbal Brunello to come out of its shell.

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Jeb Dunnuck

- 98 points -

March 2023 (Vintage 2016)

The 2016 Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva is layered and unfolds in the glass with incense, baking spice, ripe red cherry, and cedar. It has more concentration and length through the mid-palate and offers an impeccable balance of structure, ripeness, and tension. It is expressive on the nose, but it is even more impactful at this stage with its intensity through the palate, with nearly electric energy of wild raspberry, rose petal, tea leaf, and orange zest. Allow for cellaring another 3-4 years.

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Wine Spectator

- 98 points -

June 2023 (Vintage 2016)

A harmonious, balanced red, this sets the stage perfectly for the cherry, strawberry, floral, iron and tobacco flavors. Fresh and detailed, with a linear profile and refined structure driving the seemingly endless finish. Superb.

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Jeb Dunnuck

- 97 points -

March 2023 (Vintage 1999)

The 1999 Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva is expressive of integrating leather, dried cherry, red plum, and tobacco. It is medium to full-bodied, with ripe, present tannins, and although its components are integrated into its maturity, it has impressive length and concentration of fruit throughout, with kirsch, crushed flowers, and sage. It is a fantastic representation of the potential and history of the estate.

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Jeb Dunnuck

- 97 points -

February 2024 (Vintage 2010)

A darker garnet/red color, the 2010 Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva is classic to a T, with aromas of graphite, sanguine blood orange, dried cherries, espresso, and as it opens, it turns to more kirsch as well as dried roses and worn leather. Medium-bodied, but chiseled in structure, with ripe, refreshing tannins, a fantastic balanced structure, andnotes of Mediterranean herbs, it floats on the palate for a long time with all its hallmark components intertwining. A gorgeous wine that’s just starting to show what it is capable of, this is a phenomenal benchmark wine for the ages.

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James Suckling

- 97 points -

September 2015 (Vintage 2010)

Fantastic aromas of coffee, tea leaf, ripe plums and ginger follow through to a full body, firm and silky tannins and a rich and subtle finish. The is dense and powerful yet very refined and reserved. It needs at least five years to show its true character. One of the most refined Biondi-Santi riservas I can remember. The tannin texture is exceptional.

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Jeb Dunnuck

- 96 points -

February 2024 (Vintage 1988)

A garnet color that’s similar to the 2018 in terms of its richness, the 1988 Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva has incredible aromas of raspberry leather and leaps from the glass with layered notes of leather, wild herbs, rosemary, crushed stones, and flint. On the palate, it’s medium-bodied, structured, and vibrant, with angular, bright acidity. The highly perfumed aromatics are fantastic, so the nose is the winner here, but it’s spritely on the palate, salty, and bright with elegant acidity. It might not be the most powerful wine, but it has a lot of pleasure to offer now and over the next several years.

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Wine Advocate

- 96 points -

Monica Larner, March 2016 (Vintage 2010)

The 2010 Brunello di Montalcino Riserva is slow to open and I spent a good amount of extra time with this wine as a result. It was well worth the wait. The intensity inches up in baby steps. With time, the wine is splendent and focused with a very direct and impactful delivery of aromas. It also shows a specifically floral personality with dried rose petal or blue violet that I did not recognize in most of the other Brunellos from this classic vintage. There is power and determination behind those feminine aromas. The wine makes a lasting impression in the mouth, thanks to the textual tightness of its tannins and the refreshing crispness of the acidity. The Riserva sees fruit sourced from Il Greppo's oldest vines (25-years-old and more) and the wine ages in traditional oak casks for three years.

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Vinous

- 96 points -

February 2024 (Vintage 2010)

Wow, hauntingly dark and earthy yet in the best possible way, the 2010 Brunello di Montalcino Riserva La Storica entices with an array of mentholated herbs and earth tones, tobacco, steeped plums and exotic spice. This is elegance personified with cooling minerality and bright acidity that adds an abundance of energy as crisp red fruits flow across the palate with ease. It finishes remarkably fresh yet leaves a saturation of primary fruits as rosy inner florals and hints of blood orange fade. This is impressively energetic for the vintage, plus showing beautifully today after just an hour of being open in the bottle.

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Decanter

- 95 points -

November 2022 (Vintage 1999)

The 1999 vintage was a cooler year among the warmer 1997, 1998, 2000 and 2001. It's an austere year, for which there are still a lot of supporters, including me, and it represents an old generation of wines in Montalcino. Garnet in the glass, the wine shines for its cherry jelly, liquorice root and tobacco aromas, with balsamic depth and some minerality. It doesn't lack concentration, being bony with firm acidity and velvety tannins that are still rustic yet fierce. If the sternness is a signature for Biondi Santi, this would be a standard-bearer of the estate. In my opinion it will last longer, but lacks a touch of elegance.

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