The news had been in the air for some time, now it has been officially confirmed: Chiara and Massimo Ferragamo they gave in for 400 million euro to a international family office, an investment club made up of families of various containing, the property of one of the most prestigious estates in Montalcino. It's about Castiglione del Bosco – among the founding members of the Consortium in 1967 – one estate of 2000 hectares of which 62 are vineyards of the famous wine, which includes a village transformed into a luxury resort with a 5-star wine relais and a private 18-hole golf club.
"With today's acquisition - commented the president of the Consortium of Brunello di Montalcino wine, Fabrizio Bindocci - Montalcino confirms itself as a cosmopolitan wine and with a common denominator: that of the brand's appeal, the quality of its Brunello and the territory ”.
For Bindocci, the company, in which Chiara and Massimo Ferragamo will remain involved: "It marks another prestigious transfer of ownership for one of the best-known wine-growing areas in the world and a wine - Brunello di Montalcino - which is the best known by consumers Italians. We welcome – he concluded – the new arrivals in Montalcino who, we hope, will contribute not only to the growth of our brand but also to respect for the environment and its biodiversity. Values that have always been fundamental to the Montalcino area”
A centuries-old history in an environment unchanged over the centuries
The history of Castiglion del Bosco begins at the dawn of the second millennium, between assaults and disputes. But this place also speaks of the great Sienese families who lived here and brought here the illustrious art of Pietro Lorenzetti.
“It is a place – Winenews describes it – completely surrounded by a solitary, wild and unaltered natural environment over the centuries, not far from the Ombrone river, dominated by woods and Mediterranean scrub, from which it takes its name, and whose fauna rich in species it is easy to meet on your way. In his medieval village, which belonged to the nobles Sienese families, from the Gallerani to the Piccolomini, from the Borghesi to the Bandinelli passing through the Catoni, surrounded by villas, including the manor house dating back to the eighteenth century, and farms, which can be reached along the legendary dirt roads that run alongside the Brunello vineyards, it also preserves an authentic treasure of Italian art: the fourteenth-century fresco depicting "St. Anthony the Abbot, St. John the Baptist, St. Stephen, St. Michael the Archangel, St. Bartholomew and St. Francis of Assisi" and, in the centre, the "Annunciation" by the great painter Pietro Lorenzetti, which occupies the entire back wall of the ancient one Parish Church of San Michele Arcangelo, patron saint of a place both sacred and profane. So much so that not everyone knows that, in this "place of silence", he worked for a long time in the quiet of the Tuscan countryside Eduardo De Filippo who, ahead of his time, made Castiglion del Bosco a "bon refuge" in which he translated Shakespeare's "Tempesta" for the theater, after his last public appearance, precisely in the fourteenth-century Fortress of Montalcino which, also seen from down there, it was a source of inspiration for one of the greatest masters of the twentieth century”.
Then there is the agricultural history of the large estate: for more than 800 years Castiglion del Bosco has not changed its borders, within them, as a world apart, lived the village with its school, its stables, the its agriculture – made up of arable land, olive trees and obviously vines. In 2003 Massimo Ferragamo bought the property and launched his challenge in the world of wine, bringing the name of Castiglion del Bosco among the most renowned in the world. “I arrived in Castiglion del Bosco in 2001 – he recalls – it was a splendid sunny day. Every place within the estate, with its Brunello vineyards, spoke to my heart and awakened my soul. I was thrilled by those boundless views and glimpses that only the Val d'Orcia can offer: I never imagined that such a magical Tuscany could still exist. it was love at first sight".
The passion of the Ferragamos: in a few years towards international goals
A year later, the new cellar was built, which has a capacity of 3.000 hectoliters, a modern and efficient two-level structure, half hidden on the slopes of the hill. In the same year the first vintage of Brunello di Montalcino Campo del Drago 1999 was put on the market, vinified in the new cellar.
Between 2008 and 2009 the village was restructured into 23 refined and elegant suites which will allow the resort to become part of the prestigious Rosewood Hotels & Resorts brand. At the same time work began on the Golf Club completed in 2010, with its magnificent 18-hole course designed by Tom Weiskopf. The only private in Italy.
The production of the new Riserva di Brunello Millecento starts in 2010, whose name pays homage to the year of construction of the Fortress, symbol of the estate. “This Brunello is our goal achieved” says the oenologist Cecilia Leoneschi, “a reserve that contains a part of each of us”. The wine is an immediate success with international critics
Soon James Suckling, one of the most influential wine critics in the world, inserts the Brunello di Montalcino 2016 from Castiglion del Bosco with 99 points out of 100, al second place in its Top 100 Wines of Italy 2020 ranking where the best wines produced in all the wine-growing areas of Italy are included.
And again James Suckling the following year awards no less than 99 points, a sidereal evaluation, to the Zodiac Rooster Brunello di Montalcino 2010 Reserve." Elegant and powerful - writes Suckling - this wonderful wine is now and will be even better in 2020.
