Brunello di Montalcino flies to Italy and around the world. The data released by the Consortium testify to an exceptional growth in the position of wine on the markets: almost 11,4 million bottles of Brunello di Montalcino placed on the market in 2021 - the 37% more compared to the previous three-year period – with over 1 million reserves (+108% on 2020); average bulk price at +28% e stocks in the cellar of bottled wines at historic lows (-38% on December 2020). In short, 2021 was an exceptional year for Brunello sales. Exceptional too performance of Rosso di Montalcino which recorded +10% on 2020, and 4,6 million bottles.
“A golden two-year period ends for the market of our flagship wine, with increases of 12% and 27% respectively – said the president of the Consorzio del vino Brunello di Montalcino, Fabrizio Bindocci –, now the goal is to cement the achieved placement. At the end of February we will be in New York with our producers for a US edition of Benvenuto Brunello, while a new special event dedicated to Rosso di Montalcino is being studied, a product that increasingly confirms its own identity and important potential”.
The analysis on the bands reveals that the last two super-years on the market (2015 and 2016) have achieved record numbers. It was in fact since 2010 that the ceiling of 11 million bottles on the market had not been exceeded, thanks also to a demand increasingly oriented towards quality consumption. Overall, in the last two years, almost 10,2 million State labels have been delivered relating to the 2015 vintage and, pending the performance of the Reserve at its debut this year, over 9,4 million labels for 2016. A sold out that did not limit the request - on the occasion of the new Benvenuto Brunello in November - for 2017, which already has 3,1 million bottles ready to debut on the market. As usual, the Consortium's representativeness is very high, whose members hold 98,4% of the bottled wine. The Consortium of Brunello di Montalcino wine brings together 214 members, for a protection that extends over a vineyard of over 4.300 hectares in the district of the Municipality of Montalcino (2.100 hectares in Brunello, quota since 1997), in favor of four DOP of the territory.
The vocation of the Montalcino area to produce high quality wines has been known for over two thousand years: in fact, there are numerous archaeological finds dating back to the Etruscan era, which attest to the production of wine in Montalcino. In the Middle Ages, the municipal statutes regulated the starting date of the harvest while, during the siege of 1553, wine was never lacking and Blaise de Montluc, in defense of the Montalcino walls, to conceal his sufferings "rubbed his face with the red wine ”. According to the Bolognese Leandro Alberti (1550-1631), Montalcino was "much named for the good wines that are obtained from those pleasant hills".
The grand-ducal auditor Bartolomeo Gherardini, in his visit to Montalcino in 1676-1677, reported the production of 6050 tons of wine described as "strong wine, but not in large quantities". Charles Thompson, in 1744, wrote instead that "Montalcino is not very famous except for the goodness of its wines".
The birth of Brunello di Montalcino dates back to the XNUMXth century, when some Montalcino farmers began experimenting with the production of a red wine with grapes from a vine traditionally grown in the area. A vine called "Brunello" or "Brunellino" which, towards the middle of the XNUMXth century, was identified as a variety of Sangiovese. A very valuable grape because it is capable of producing wines for long aging, i.e. red wines of the highest quality.
There is a report from the ampelographic commission of the province of Siena on a 32-year-old Brunello – harvest 1843 – in which it is said that the wine has analytical characteristics that have not changed over time, i.e. it was perfectly preserved. However, it was during the years of the unification of Italy - between 1865 and 1869 - that the attempts to vinify the Brunello grape alone and to age the wine in cask intensified and reached excellent results.
The precursor father of Brunello di Montalcino was certainly Clemente Santi. In 1869 one of his Vino Scelto (Brunello), from the 1865 harvest, was awarded a silver medal by the Comizio Agrario di Montepulciano. In the following years, Brunello obtained other important international recognitions, beating the French reds even in Paris and Bordeaux. And from there began a great story that has never ended.
