These are some of the most collectible wines to come out of Italy in some time! Jacopo Biondi Santi makes Super Tuscans that combine centuries of tradition with contemporary experimentation. He hails from the Biondi Santi family that literally created Brunello di Montelcino in the middle of the 19th century, but he chose to go his own way. In the early 1990s Jacopo sold his portion of the Biondi Santi holdings in Brunello and purchased the Castello di Montépo winery in Maremma. He recognized in the 12th century castle’s grounds the altitude, terrain, and wind exposure ideal for creating a unique sangiovese terroir. He planted sangiovese grosso BBS11, a clone belonging to the Biondi Santi family, as well as cabernet sauvignon and merlot. He mapped the vineyard holdings obsessively and farms with scientific precision and a deep human care. He has created some of the definitive Super Tuscans and sagiovese of the modern era.
Fontecanese was conceived to be the greatest cabernet sauvignon of Italy. After conducting an extensive study in which every microplot of the 600 hectares of Castello di Montepò was mapped, Jacopo Biondi Santi identified a tiny plot of soil in Galestro between 357 and 377 meters from which he makes just 250 cases of wine a year. Each vineyard is cared for with its own individual schema—the grapes receiving an absurd level of care. After hand harvesting, a native yeast fermentation takes place and the wine ages for two years in French oak barrels before 16 more months in bottle. The Fontecanese is complex and many layered packed with cassis and black plums, black berries, wild fennel, herbs, tobacco leaf, and Chinese spices. This has everything about cabernet sauvignon that we love, shot through with Tuscan light. A truly exceptional wine.
96 points | DECANTER
These wines are pre-arrival with an estimated ship date of late May. Your wines will ship as weather permits and the daily range is consistently between 45 and 74 degrees. Please note pre-arrival sales are non-refundable as suppliers require us to make binding commitments and deposits to secure the wine.
