Yesterday a friend of mine gave me a bottle of 1981 Biondi-Santi Brunello di Montalcino Il Greppo. It was incredibly generous of him, but I have to admit that I had doubts that it would be of very good quality.
The bottle had been sitting upright in a cabinet in the workshop of my friend’s antique store in Rome. "I don’t know how long it has been here," he said. "Maybe a couple of years?"
He didn’t seem bothered. He’s not into wine. Antiques, music, 100-kilometer marathons, living in the outback of Borneo (seriously), yes, but wine, no. "But I have heard that Biondi-Santi is special, so I want you to have it," he said.
"Grazie tanto!" I replied.
I, of course, knew that I had to drink it last night because I had a flight to Bordeaux the following day to attend VinExpo, the mother of professional wine fairs. We all know that you can’t take bottles of wine in your hand luggage with the way airport security is, and bringing a bottle of Biondi-Santi to Bordeaux is definitely like bringing coal to Newcastle as the cliché goes.
So I brought the red to dinner at the restaurant Pier Luigi. The sommelier was horrified when I told him that I wanted to drink it. "With fish?" he asked.
"Yes, with fish or whatever we order," I said in my bad Italian. "Could you put it on ice too?"
The dude was freaking out. He must have thought I really was a vulgar American. Biondi on the rocks baby! "Look," I said, "I just want to cool the bottle down a bit. It’s warm."
The sommelier agreed to decant the bottle and then place the decanter on ice. My friends and I drank a bottle of 2007 Franz Haas Vigneti delle Dolomiti Manna, which was delicious and perfumed with ripe fruit and crisp acidity. I then stuck my nose in the Biondi. It was cooked! It smelled of tanned leather, raisins and Madeira.
By that time, I had made friends with the sommelier and we both agreed the bottle was shot, even though the color was good and the level of the wine in the bottle above shoulder.
"Que peccato," I said—what a shame.
I ordered a bottle of 2006 Cantina Terlano Sauvignon Alto Adige Terlaner Quarz instead, and I began thinking about the experience. There must be so many bad bottles of old vintages of Biondi-Santi out there in the world, I thought to myself. (Old bottles of Gaja Barbarescos can have the same problem.)
The Brunello producer has had a great reputation for decades. Even Italians who know very little about wine know that Biondi-Santi is something valuable. And most keep them as sort of trophies, standing up in places of honor like a golf or tennis trophy on a mantle or shelf.
Biondi bottles that have not been stored properly abound in homes and restaurants in Italy. Many of the old bottles of Biondi-Santi that I have seen in Italy have been standing up in warm rooms for years, even decades. And that truly is a peccatto.
But what can you do? Just hope for the best.
Dr J Rosenblatt
Montreal, Canada — June 19, 2009 4:45pm ETMatt Scott
Honolulu HI — June 19, 2009 5:26pm ETMichael Schulman
Westlake Village, CA — June 19, 2009 7:50pm ETIt's such a shame when poor storage kills a great bottle. Here's another story to cry over.
I provided the wine to my mom's birthday a few years ago. I knew that everyone that was invited was in their late 70's to early 90's, and that nobody was really a wine drinker except a friend of my mother's. At the end of the meal my mom's friend was just nuts over the Ganarcha de Fuego, a wine I paid $8 for. I gave her a bottle to take home, and told her to enjoy it. In return she gave my mom a bottle from her cellar as a thank you. That bettle of wine remained in my mother's trunk for several hot days before making it to me. Needless to say the bottle was cooked. OK......here's the shame.It was a 1970 Mouton Rothschild. Yeah, the one that placed first for the French in the Judgement in Paris.
Que peccato, indeed!
Michael Bonanno
June 20, 2009 6:43am ETJohnny Espinoza Esquivel
June 20, 2009 9:28am ETRecently, I friend of mine gave me a bottle of 1986 Far Niente Cabernet Sauvignon. I know his father is into wine. Indeed, he have a cellar. So my conclusion was, wine should be in pretty good shape. However, I did some research, knowing nothing about 1986 vintage in Napa Valley. It seems there were floods and lots of rain. There it goes my first impression. Going beyond, I did surf far niente's site. Lucky enough, I found the Cab notes for that year. Overall the info was positive even suggesting that wine should have some bottle aging. But 21-23 years of aging looks like too much for me. Besides, '86 vintage was not typical. Been honest with all of you I don't know what to expect.
As per Mr. Laube's review of the wine, it seems it's too late for that bottle. Any advice on this? Should I decant it? current storage conditions are OK, meaning there is pretty good humidity and cool temperature. I don't know what to expect. . .
James Moller
Washington, DC — June 20, 2009 9:43am ETAbout two weeks ago I was in visiting an old collegiate buddy. His mother mentioned she had an old bottle of wine that she ¿wasn¿t sure if it was any good.¿ Sitting in wine rack on the floor of her living room, right next to the heating grate, was a bottle of 1959 La Mission Haut Brion. The capsule felt glued on and you could see signs of seepage down the side of the neck. We're going to pry it open on the 4th, but I am as some might say not very confident.
C'est dommage
Karl Mark
Geneva, IL. — June 20, 2009 10:06am ETJames Suckling
— June 20, 2009 12:13pm ETJames Suckling
— June 20, 2009 12:15pm ETFranco Ziliani
Italy — June 20, 2009 2:02pm ETTom J Wilson
Canada — June 20, 2009 3:11pm ETAlbert Jochems
The Netherlands — June 20, 2009 3:33pm ETJames, have you had an eighties Biondi Santi recently that was in good shape? I don't see you writing a lot about older vintages of Brunello. I would love to read about your take on that!
James Suckling
— June 20, 2009 4:18pm ETSandy Fitzgerald
Centennial, CO — June 22, 2009 12:06am ETJames Suckling
— June 22, 2009 3:15am ETLouis Bruno
June 23, 2009 12:30pm ETJohnny Espinoza Esquivel
July 6, 2009 2:21pm ET