Antinori is a compelling character, infused with an obsession for innovation, exploration and excellence. We hosted our Antinori dinner on February and would like to make his wines available to all our members.

The Antinori family has been committed to the art of winemaking for over six centuries since 1385 when Giovanni di Piero Antinori became a member, of the “Arte Fiorentina dei Vinattieri”, the Florentine Winemakers’ Guild. All throughout its history, twenty-six generations long, the Antinori family has managed the business directly making innovative and sometimes bold decisions while upholding the utmost respect for traditions and the environment.

Antinori was respectful of tradition, but he leapt fearlessly into the future. For guidance, he and winemaker Giacomo Tachis looked to France, consulting with famed Bordeaux enologist Émile Peynaud. They cut yields in the vineyards, eliminated white grapes from the Chianti Classico blend, planted better clones of Sangiovese, experimented with French varieties and rethought their approach in the winery.

Their work culminated in Tignanello, the first super Tuscan, which debuted in 1970. Italy needed a wine that would mark it as a great wine nation, and Antinori delivered exactly that. Then he pushed the envelope further with Solaia, a Cabernet-based red that rivaled versions from Bordeaux and Napa. Its 1997 vintage was Wine Spectator's Wine of the Year in 2000, the first Italian wine to earn this honor. In 1999, Antinori earned Wine Spectator's Distinguished Service Award.

Tignanello and Solaia proved to the world that Tuscany was more than a source of cheap, hearty reds. Its vine-covered hills could produce first-class wines, whether from international grapes such as Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot or local grapes like Sangiovese. And Tuscan wineries could demand the prices needed to make quality sustainable. A generation of Italian vintners followed in Antinori’ s footsteps.

In considering his ten Tuscan holdings, among them some of the region’s most prestigious properties (Solaia, Guado al Tasso and Badia a Passignano included), the Marchese displays the satisfaction of a chess master surveying a carefully wrought position. Tuscany is an atlas of Antinori power, and he characterizes the Italian holdings as “a green Tuscan heart with a crown of other vineyards from Piedmont to Puglia."