Biondi-Santi Tenuta Greppo Brunello di Montalcino 2018

Biondi-Santi IS Brunello di Montalcino. They created the style from scratch more than 150 years ago – and all these years later, their 2018 vintage is earning double-96 scores and near-universal acclaim. With more than $125 off retail and free shipping on a single bottle, today is your best shot at owning a piece of wine history.

Drinking Biondi-Santi is like drinking history. This is the estate that put Montalcino on the map – the one all other Brunellos are measured against. Founder Clemente Santi developed the Brunello di Montalcino style in the mid-1800s, centering it on Sangiovese Grosso aged to grand effect. His grandson Ferruccio Biondi-Santi went further, developing the family's proprietary clone, BBS11 (Brunello Biondi-Santi 11) – the only varietal clone in the world named for its producer, and the very clone in your glass with this 2018.

The estate vineyard, Tenuta Greppo, sits at high altitude southeast of Montalcino on terraced, galestro-rich soils of characteristically poor quality – the type that forces vines to dig deep and produce grapes of extraordinary structure, fruit, and acidity. Hand-harvested fruit is fermented in cement vats with native yeasts, then aged 24-30 months in large Slavonian oak casks in the traditional Brunello fashion. The 2018 was the second harvest fully overseen by new owners EPI – the French group that also stewards Charles Heidsieck and Piper-Heidsieck – who took complete control from vineyard to bottle starting with this vintage.

"The 2018 Biondi-Santi Brunello shows the winery's hallmark finesse that EPI have scrupulously preserved thanks to the passion and determination of a great on-site team." –Kerin O'Keefe

Armed with double-96 scores and a stack of additional rave reviews, the 2018 is a masterpiece – and Vinous puts it plainly: “Simply magnificent, the 2018 takes the perfumed character of the vintage and marries perfectly to a core of vividly intense fruit. This is entirely atypical of the vintage and the result of extreme selection that reduced production quantities by 20%.” In the glass, you'll find lifted aromas of lilac, lavender, and dried rose, followed by layered flavors of black and red cherry, orange peel, spiced cranberry tea, eucalyptus, coriander, black pepper, and dried herbs. The acidity is bright and almost saline, the tannins silk-soft, and the whole thing floats with a purity and finesse that makes it as approachable now as it is built for decades in the cellar. Under $190 for a wine of this stature and story is genuinely extraordinary. But our remaining inventory is extremely scarce… Don't let this one slip away!

FOOD PAIRINGS: Go big with slow-braised wild boar ragù over al dente pappardelle… a match as rich and enchanting as the wine itself.