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Banfi Vintners, the most important US wine import company, was founded in New York, in 1919, by the Italian entrepreneur Giovanni Banfi. His sons John and Harry inherited it and decided to open their family winemaking company in Italy, in 1978.

The Banfi estate extends on the southern slope of the municipality of Montalcino, in the province of Siena, between the Orcia and Ombrone Rivers. It consists of some 7.000 acres, 2.000 of which are used for selected vineyards, while the rest is planted with olive groves, wheat, plum trees and woods – the latter are populated by many species of wild animals.

In ancient times, those lands were covered by the sea, as fossils have often been found within the property, especially that of a whale. Given the vast cultivated area, the soils are very different from each other, yet extremely rich with clay and calcium. Clone selection research has been regularly conducted on those very soils, studying the main varieties of red vines for over thirty years, in particular, “Sangiovese”; the results have been thoroughly documented, recorded and made available to the entire community of local farmers and wine producers.

The XIV century Castle of Poggio alle Mura, a former stronghold of the Siena Republic and currently known as Castello Banfi, is the company’s representation office.
Within the historic walls, in the old stable and in the oil mill still preserving original tools and machine dating back to 1857, visitors can enjoy the interesting “Museum of the bottle and glass” named after Giovanni F. Mariani. The itinerary of the museum illustrates the ups and downs of glass production in history, from the fifth century B.C.
It is also one of the largest private collections in the world of glass objects from ancient Rome.

This post is also available in: Italiano (Italian)