Frescobaldi

The Frescobaldi family established themselves in Florentine banking and the cloth trade in the 13th century before turning to wine; their financial dealings extended to financing the English crown under Edward I and Edward II, and they were patrons of the architects who built the Santa Trinità bridge and the Church of Santa Croce. The first documented Frescobaldi wine sale was in 1308. Through the Renaissance the house was supplying the papal courts and the table of Henry VIII.

Today the family operates ten Tuscan estates and sells in over sixty-five countries. Each estate is built around a specific terroir: Castello di Nipozzano in the cool, hill-tempered Chianti Rufina; Castello di Pomino at altitude near the Pratomagno mountains; Tenuta CastelGiocondo on the south-west slopes of Brunello di Montalcino; Tenuta Castiglioni in the original Frescobaldi family seat at Montespertoli; Tenuta Ammiraglia in coastal Maremma; Tenuta Perano in Gaiole-in-Chianti; the Bolgheri estate at Tenuta Ornellaia, fully owned within the Frescobaldi Group since 2002; and Gorgona, the rehabilitation-prison vineyard cultivated jointly with inmates of the island.

The wines worth knowing for a trade list: Nipozzano Riserva (Chianti Rufina, Sangiovese-dominant blend, the structural reference for Rufina), CastelGiocondo Brunello di Montalcino (entry-tier classic Brunello for cellar-worthy bottles under $200), Mormoreto (Cabernet-led Toscana IGT from Nipozzano's higher slopes, long-cellaring), Pomino Vin Santo (the rare Tuscan dessert wine made from dried Trebbiano and Malvasia), and Remole (the entry-level Tuscan Sangiovese for by-the-glass).