Cristina Mariani-May is family proprietor and co-CEO of Banfi Vintners, America’s leading wine importer, and the award winning Castello Banfi Vineyard Estate in Montalcino, Tuscany.
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A Moment of Pride
Cristina Mariani-May
co-CEO Banfi Vintners
America's Leading Wine Importer
I’ve just returned from Italy where I attended VinItaly, the annual wine fair held in the romantic northern city of Verona, sitting in the shadow of the Dolomite Mountains and flanking the coastal canals of Venice. It is quite a large exhibition, with just about every Italian wine producer, large and small, setting up temporary headquarters of some sort for five days and hosting wholesalers, restaurateurs, merchants and consumers to sip their new releases and talk strategy.
During the fair, international juries of wine experts come together to take a more formal look at the wines being presented. And this year, for the 12th time in the last 17 years, they declared Castello Banfi, my family’s vineyard estate in Montalcino, Tuscany, to be Italy’s best winery.
In and of itself, that sounds like a great accomplishment. But when you think about what is behind that statement, you realize just how extraordinary of an honor our neighbors have bestowed upon us.
For starters, anyone with a soupcon of sour grapes is likely to say that, of course we won, because we have a broad range of wines to submit – we just overwhelmed them with numbers. Well, at the founding of this concourse, the organizers predicted the same accusations, and set up the system to prevent such hi-jinks. The top prize for each nation is awarded to the winery whose three top scoring wines achieve the highest sum. There are plenty of wineries out there, even our smaller neighbors, who make at least three wines. Ours won on their individual merit, not their volume.
Next, consider that Italy is a very traditional company, and winemaking is one of its most traditional sectors. Some of the families who are our neighbors and friends have been making and marketing wine for dozens of generations. True, our land has been cultivated since the middle-ages and was part of the original registry for Brunello di Montalcino, but we re-planted most of those vineyards and founded our estate in 1978. Thirty two years old is a youngster in Italian wine terms. We are humbled to be so well recognized in our youth!
Last but not least, while my family’s roots are Italian and I am a third generation wine importer and proprietor of Banfi, we are American. But the VinItaly Enological Concourse recognized that we have brought some American inspired ingenuity to Italy’s sagest traditions; our team is a dynamic blend of cultures that works smartly; an accomplished group that dare not rest on its laurels but welcomes these awards as confirmation that they are moving in the right direction and inspiration to forge further ahead.
So pardon my gushing, and please form your own opinions the same way the judges at VinItaly did: by tasting from the range of our wines and the variety of flavors and styles they represent:
Tremendous Trio – You’ve hear of super Tuscans; well, our Centine, be it the Rosso, Bianco or Rosé, are truly Super Value Tuscans. At around $11 they represent great every day value in the finest tradition of Italian table wines.
Wondrous Whites – Tuscany is not known for making great white wines, but two beauties, San Angelo Pinot Grigio ($17) and Fontanelle Chardonnay ($19) offer crisp, fruity, elegant evidence to the contrary.
Sangiovese Superlatives – Our Castello Banfi Brunello di Montalcino, $65, is a benchmark for this well known, widely respected varietal, and we up the ante with the cru of Poggio alle Mura Brunello di Montalcino, $82, from vineyards immediately surrounding our historical castle of the same name, and planted to our finest clones of the Sangiovese grape. But place of pride belongs to Poggio all’Oro Brunello di Montalcino Riserva, $150, a single vineyard designation aged for an additional year (total of 5) and released only in the finest vintages – this year’s release of the 2004 is the first in five years. We also take a different spin on Sangiovese with our BelnerO, $39, a proprietor’s reserve Sangiovese dominant wine that we consider to be the ultimate expression of our unique “terra.”
Cunning Cuvées – While my family exalts the finest traditions of Tuscan wines, we also firmly believe in its potential to make the caliber of stylized wines to compete on the world stage while still expressing their Tuscan soul. Our Latin/collegiate sounding trio Cum Laude ($37), SummuS ($69), and ExcelsuS ($81) combine different varietals to offer harmony, grace and balance while always bearing the signature forward character that represents our style and our land.
