The Sala dei Grappoli di Castello Banfi has earned 81 points and Two Forchette in the Gambero Rosso Guide to Italian Restaurants 2027, after having obtained One Forchette in the previous edition. This recognition attests to the growth of our Michelin-starred restaurant and the constant commitment to perfecting its gastronomic offering.

A success born from the work of the entire team, from the restaurant, whose service is described by the guide as «classy», to the kitchen, led by chef Domenico Francone. A proposal that improves year after year, where the great Tuscan raw materials meet the Mediterranean creativity and sensitivity of the chef, in a dialogue with Banfi wines that also enhance the historical vintages.

A milestone that rewards the passion and professionalism of the entire team and confirms the identity of Castello Banfi, through the meeting between haute cuisine, wine culture and hospitality in the setting of Poggio alle Mura.

The review

«The castle of medieval origin promises a dinner that is hard to forget, especially in the beautiful weather when you eat on the terrace.».

Chef Domenico Francone, with significant experience, including that with Heinz Beck, is refining his cuisine year by year. The inspiration comes from the great Tuscan ingredients, from meat to fish, and from the produce from the garden, to which a specific menu is dedicated. To complete the proposal, there is creativity that recalls his Apulian origins.

The tasting menus are valid; dishes are also available à la carte. Among these, “Il tortello maremmano a modo mio… come una cartellata” stands out, the well-executed quaglie and, on the sea side, the elegant seppia and peas.

The wine cellar allows for very good drinking, enhancing the company’s wines even through older vintages. The service is of a high standard and the stay can be continued in the resort’s beautiful rooms.»

Source: Gambero Rosso, Guide to Italian Restaurants 2027 – The Sala dei Grappoli at Castello Banfi, 81/100, Two Forks.

Eighteen new Ambassadors join the Club founded in 2023. At Castello Banfi, two days to celebrate a project that puts relationships and the role of people at the center of the history of Brunello di Montalcino Banfi.

There are entrepreneurial stories that are measured by results, and others that find their continuity in the relationships built over time. In the world of wine, where knowledge of a region and the reputation of a producer are consolidated over generations, these two dimensions often coincide.

It is in this perspective that the new phase of the Banfi Brunello Ambassador Club is inserted, which expands its community with the entry of 18 new Ambassadors from the main international markets.

Founded in 2023, the Club initially brought together sixty Italian professionals who, since the 1980s, had contributed to the success of Brunello Banfi. The international opening represents therefore the continuation of a path already begun and, together, the recognition of a global vocation that has accompanied Banfi since its origins.

The new members are leading professionals in their respective markets, united by their knowledge of wine and their established relationship with the company. People who, through different experiences and cultures, contribute to telling the story of Brunello di Montalcino Banfi and strengthening its presence in the world.

On October 15 and 16, Castello Banfi hosted the celebrations for the entry of the new Ambassadors, with two days dedicated to learning about the company’s history and the territory of Montalcino.

The program began with a visit to the winery, during which images, testimonies, and stories retraced the main stages of Banfi’s history. The following day, an itinerary through the estate led the guests to the most representative vineyards, where a preview tasting of all the Brunello di Montalcino Banfi 2022 references was held, accompanied by performances by the musicians of the Accademia Musicale Chigiana of Siena.

Each Ambassador was also dedicated a plot of land in one of the vineyards intended for the production of Brunello Poggio alle Mura. A gesture of symbolic value, which translates into a concrete bond with the land between the company and its Ambassadors.

The official investiture ceremony took place on Friday, October 16th at Castello Banfi. The evening featured jazz pianist Danilo Rea, with a solo piano concert followed by a gala dinner prepared by Domenico Francone, chef of the MICHELIN-starred restaurant La Sala dei Grappoli. To complete the event, an original work created live by illustrator Alessandro Baronciani was presented to each of the new members.

“The Banfi Brunello Ambassador Club is born from the conviction that great wine stories take shape through the people and relationships built over time,” said Cristina Mariani-May, CEO of Banfi and third generation of the Mariani family.

“In 2023, we brought together those who, from the very beginning, shared our vision of bringing Brunello di Montalcino to the world. Today, that same vision is opening up to new markets, in a natural evolution that keeps knowledge, trust, and the bond with Brunello Banfi at the center,” added Rodolfo Maralli, President of Banfi.

The expansion of the Banfi Brunello Ambassador Club ultimately tells a central aspect of the company’s history: the role of people in building an international reputation. A heritage that does not end with the product itself but includes knowledge, trust and the ability to establish relationships that are intended to last.

Because the international dimension of a wine does not depend solely on the markets it manages to reach, but also on the people who, over time, have helped to make its value known.

Back on the saddle! On October 3rd and 4th the team Poggio alle Mura He will be in Gaiole in Chianti for The Eroica® is the event that in 1997 gave rise to a cycling experience that has become an international movement over the years.

It was indeed from Gaiole that the story of L’Eroica® began: less than one hundred participants at the first edition and a precise idea of cycling, made up of vintage bicycles, unpaved roads, effort, territory, and sharing.

For the upcoming event, it offers five routes, ranging from the 46 kilometers of the Chianti Valley to the 209 kilometers of L’Eroico. On Saturday, October 3, the longest routes will be featured, while on Sunday, October 4, the 106, 81, and 46 kilometer routes will be on the agenda.

For the Poggio alle Mura team, it will be another opportunity to share this experience, this time on the roads of Chianti Classico and along some of the routes that are part of the very history of the event.

Markets, consumption, brands and innovation They are at the center of the interview in Rodolfo Maralli, President of Banfi, published in Corriere della Sera signed by Antonino Padovese.

A discussion on the current state of the wine industry and the transformations that are changing the way wine is produced, communicated, and marketed.

In the interview, Maralli starts from a precise scenario: the contraction in consumption is not a recent phenomenon, but a dynamic that has been affecting the global market for many years. In this context, tradition and territory remain fundamental, but they must be accompanied by strategic vision, investment, and the ability to interpret the evolution of consumers.

It is here that the role of the manager takes on an increasingly central role: a professionalism capable of bringing together the market, the corporate identity, innovation, and the building of the brand, transforming a complex phase into an opportunity to rethink models and strategies.

A topic that Maralli also explored on Sunday 27 September in Trento, as part of the Trentodoc Festival, During the meeting “Manager in the vineyard: visions beyond the crisis”. The wine talk brought together some key players in the industry to discuss the challenges of the global market, the management of uncertainty, and the strategies needed to cope with change.

A reflection that directly touches upon Banfi’s own journey: reading the transformations without losing one’s identity, while continuing to invest in skills, research, and the ability to build value over time.

Read the full interview in Corriere della Sera:
https://www.corriere.it/cronache/trentodoc-festival/26_settembre_23/nella-vigna-serve-un-manager-6a33ab04-214f-4086-9586-8c3272935xlk.shtml

Banfi features in the story of the fifty years that transformed the world of wine by Jancis Robinson in the Financial Times.

In her article “Mi occupo di vino da 50 anni. Ecco 50 modi in cui è cambiato”, Robinson traces half a century of evolutions witnessed firsthand: from consumption to markets, from the spread of international grape varieties to the growth of wine tourism, right through to the new centrality of the vineyard, sustainability and the challenges linked to climate change.

Banfi also has a place among the stages of this journey. Robinson recalls the role of the Mariani family with Banfi Vintners and the development of 700 hectares of vineyards in Montalcino, described as one of Italy's finest wine regions.

A passage that recalls a fundamental phase of our history: the arrival in Montalcino and the building of a winemaking project destined to develop over time, while the international wine scene was changing profoundly.

A story that, as told by Jancis Robinson in the Financial Times, intertwines with half a century of changes in markets, consumption, and the global geography of wine.

For the third consecutive year, the MICHELIN Guide awards A Key to Banfi Castle – The Borgo, confirming it in the selection dedicated to hotels that stand out for the quality of their hospitality experience.

This recognition has accompanied Il Borgo since 2024 and, year after year, has given value to a path built through attention, attention to detail and a deep connection with Montalcino.

The MICHELIN Keys represent the recognition with which the Guide rates hotel establishments capable of offering a stay with their own identity, considering elements such as architecture and design, quality of service, personality, and relationship with the local area.

At Castello Banfi – Il Borgo, hospitality is born precisely from the meeting between these elements: the castle, the landscape, the wine, the cuisine, and a way of welcoming designed to allow guests to get in touch with the place and fully experience it.

The confirmation of the MICHELIN Key for 2026 is therefore also a recognition of the daily work carried out by the people who shape the experience of the Borgo.

Our thanks go to everyone team Hospitality, For the care and passion with which they accompany every stay, and to the guests who continue to choose Castello Banfi – Il Borgo and share their experience with us.

A Key that celebrates the journey made and continues to open the door to all that will come.

Read the review of the MICHELIN Guide dedicated to Castello Banfi – Il Borgo:
https://lnkd.in/exgptFQK

For Banfi, the vintage is not just about the grapes.

Alongside the vineyards and olive groves, the Montalcino estate also includes spaces for prugneti, a historical production that tells another part of the agricultural identity of the company.

The cultivation of the pruna has been a part of Banfi since the late 1970s and early 1980s and today represents one of the main arboreal crops on the estate after the vines.

With the proper maturation having been reached, harvesting begins. The plums are then sent to the subsequent processing stages: drying and grading take place at the company’s Fruit Center before final packaging.

A process that, from the plant to the finished product, reflects the same attention given to other Banfi products and demonstrates an agricultural vocation that goes beyond the world of wine.

Every year, the collection of the prunes becomes another important moment in the estate’s calendar: a labor that involves the seasons, experience, and care throughout all the stages of production.

He is also the one who tells this reality TGR Tuscany, which dedicated a service to the production of Banfi plums.

Watch the TGR Toscana service.

On September 12, 1984, John and Harry Mariani, together with Ezio Rivella, inaugurated the Banfi winery in Montalcino.

It is a fundamental stage in the company’s history and, at the same time, the concrete expression of a vision born a few years earlier: to build in Montalcino a project capable of combining viticulture, research, innovation and a culture of hospitality.

From the very beginning, the winery is conceived not only as a place dedicated to wine production, but as part of a broader system. A pioneering and cutting-edge project in which vineyard work and winemaking, experimentation, and hospitality all work together within a common philosophy.

A choice that still tells the way Banfi is today.

Over the years, investment in research and innovation has accompanied the company’s development, contributing to a better understanding of the territory, Sangiovese, and its various expressions. At the same time, wine has never been separated from the context in which it is produced and from the opportunity to tell its story through experience, encounter, and hospitality.

42 years after its inauguration, the winery continues to be a place of production, research and exchange: a space in constant evolution, where experience and innovation continue to meet.

A journey that began in 1984 and continues today, looking to the future with the same determination to learn, experiment, and improve.

Yesterday, today, tomorrow.

Research and pioneering have always been part of the Banfi way of being.

In Montalcino, this approach also takes shape in the Collection field developed in collaboration with CREA Research, where they are collected 119 types of Sangiovese.

An ampelographic heritage that was created with a precise objective: to preserve the diversity of the vine and, at the same time, study its behavior in the face of new climatic conditions.

Observing the different types over time allows us to delve deeper into their characteristics and adaptability, helping to build new knowledge useful for the future of Sangiovese and the territory in which it finds one of its most important expressions.

A work that fits into a research project begun by Banfi many years ago. From the zoning studies initiated in the 1980s to clonal selection, knowledge of Sangiovese has been one of the central areas of the company’s research activity.

The collection field today adds a new chapter to this journey: not a selection aimed exclusively at production, but a shared heritage to be preserved, observed, and studied.

Because understanding the differences also means acquiring new tools to face change, while continuing to look to the future of Sangiovese through research.

The project was also told by TGR Tuscany, which dedicated a service to the Banfi collection field and the work carried out together with CREA Research.

Watch the TGR Toscana service.