That of the Piccini is a story that has its roots in a very important year for Italy: it was, in fact, 1860 when the country celebrated its unity and Angiolo was born, the only child of a family of merchants from Poggibonsi, who in 1882 he decided to focus on viticulture, buying seven hectares in Castellina in Chianti, in the heart of one of the most important denominations of Italian wine. His son Mario succeeds in making the company wanted by his father prosper in the difficult years of the Great Depression before and the
Second World War then, while Pierangelo, the third generation of the Piccini family, focuses on the acquisition of important properties in Tuscany, without forgetting to pass on to their children the passion for wine and viticulture. Successful mission, given that at the end of the eighties Mario and Martina dedicated themselves to the family business from an early age, bringing a breath of freshness and innovation and helping to relaunch the image of Chianti Classico in the world.

Love for Chianti Classico

While the fifth generation, represented by Mario's children, Benedetta, Ginevra and Michelangelo, appears in the company, Tenute
Piccini (tenutepiccini.it) is today one of the best-selling Italian wineries abroad, with bottles on the shelves of over 80 countries and about 200 hectares of owned vineyards, divided between Tuscany, Basilicata and Sicily. The heart, however, continues to beat for the places where it all began. First of all in Castelnuovo Berardenga, where the Fattoria di Valiano is located, a historic company that, before being bought by the Piccini family in 1995, was owned by the President of the Republic
Giovanni Gronchi. The estate includes 230 hectares, of which 70 are planted with vineyards, on stony and clayey soils, at an altitude of
about 400 meters, which ensures freshness, elegance and great drinking pleasure to the Chianti Classico produced here.
No less important for the Piccini family is the project to enhance the Geografico, a name inextricably linked to the production history of Chianti Classico. In the sixties, in fact, a group of winemakers from Gaiole, Radda and Castellina gave
life of the first cooperative in the area, that of the Agricoltori del Chianti Geografico, with a choice of name aimed at underlining the
deep bond with the territory. The initiative was successful, so much so that at the end of the eighties the cooperative was one of the largest Tuscan companies, with a production of about 1,200,000 bottles sold in Italy and abroad. The history of commitment and enhancement of the territory continues unabated, until the unfavorable economic conditions force a setback: in 2015 the cooperative ends up in voluntary liquidation. In the same year the Piccini family decided to take over it, and then acquire it in 2018, thus saving not only the prestige of the brand, but also the destiny of employees and suppliers. The young and talented Tuscan oenologist Alessandro Barabesi, at the helm of the winery's technical team, and the well-known consultant oenologist Riccardo Cotarella, enthusiastic about being able to help "give a new impetus to the extraordinary
suitability of the company and the terroir it represents ".

Mario Piccini's advice

The right Chianti Classico to uncork in early autumn? Mario Piccini has no doubts “it is our Chianti Classico Poggio Teo 2016 from Fattoria di Valiano, because by now it has had plenty of time to refine and acquire all the distinctive aromas of Chianti Classico; I suggest you try it with a plate of pici with Cinta Senese white ragù ”. And what would you not give up on a trip? "I say the Chianti Classico Contessa di Radda 2018, a vintage that is particularly dear to me because the project to relaunch the Geografico has begun and because it is a reference label for the entire denomination".

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