Make your autumn special: on 29 October, take part in the #photowalk among the vineyards at Castello Banfi!

Take your photos and describe the magic on Instagram with the hashtag #invignaconbanfi #banfiexperience #photowalk #castellobanfi #banfivini. The mentions to use will be @castellobanfi_ilborgo, @banfivini > We are waiting for you!

For further information: Enoteca Banfi tel. 0577.877500, e-mail: marketing@banfi.it.

Places for lunch at theBanfi Wine Shop are limited, reservation is recommended (registration via this website does not directly register for the lunch, you must write or call the above-mentioned contacts).

Photowalk at Castello Banfi

Programme of the day:

• 11:00 arrival of participants at the Castello Banfi Enoteca and registration
• 11:30 departure for the vineyards, accompanied by Castello Banfi staff
• 13.00 Return to the Enoteca for an aperitif offered free of charge to all participants
• 13.30 light lunch with a tasting of local cured meats and cheeses paired with Banfi wines, at a special cost of 15.00 per person
• 15.00 for lunch participants, it will be possible to visit the wineries exclusively: accompanied by a guide who will illustrate the winemaking process, the group will have access to the Horizon project area, at the forefront of winemaking high quality wines, and to the majestic ageing cellars, where it will be possible to walk around 7000 barriques and 120hl barrels.
• Possibility of an independent visit to the Glass and Bottle Museum, located inside the Poggio alle Mura Castle.

Sign up now, we are waiting for you!

Thursday, 14 July 2016 at 6 p.m. at the Complex of S. Agostino di MontalcinoMOS Matter of Stuff presents the First Edition of Montalcino Design Week 2016showcasing a preview of the design pieces developed during the "MOS Designer Residencies Competition"which saw the winners Alessandro Zambelli, Nina Cho, Olga Bielawska, Tim Vanlier, Tomas Gabzdil Libertiny, Studio Uufie.

"MOS Designer Residencies Competition is an international competition promoted since December 2015 by MOS Matter of Stuff in collaboration with OCRA Officina CReativa dell'Abitare and Permanent School of Living.

Montalcino Design Week 2016

In this first edition, 120 entries were received from all over the world: the jury composed of Sofia Steffenoni and Simona Auteri fwaved Matter of Stuff, Sebastian Bergne designer and visiting professor, Edoardo Milesi OCRA and Archos, Giovanni Cutolo former President Fondazione ADI Collezione Compasso d'Oro and representatives of selected marble and metal companies, identified those projects that best combined innovation, technology, design and creativity.

I 6 winners were able to develop their project research in collaboration with the two companies Toscari and Carrara Design Factory during a month of residence 18 April to 14 May 2016aiming for a new approach to design in the two materials, marble and metal.

Banfi embraced the project and is one of the initiative's main partners.

The exhibition will remain open to the public 14 July to 30 November 2016.

More info: MONTALCINO DESIGN WEEK 2016

For the nineteenth consecutive year, jazz music returns among the Brunello di Montalcino vineyards. From 12 to 17 July, Italian and international musicians of great artistic prestige will celebrate the encounter between great jazz music and quality wine on the Montalcino stage.

Born from the collaboration between Banfi, the well-known wine company of Montalcinothe Rubei family of the Alexanderplatz in Rome and the Municipality of Montalcino, the prestigious event has in store a rich calendar that ranges from various jazz forms, with 6 concerts from 12 to 17 July. For the 19th consecutive year, Italian and international musicians of great artistic prestige will celebrate on the Montalcino stage the encounter between great jazz music and quality wine.

Jazz & Wine in Montalcino 2016

The date for the first concert, Tuesday 12 July, is within the historic walls of Castello Banfi, with the trio of African-American pianist and singer Johnny O'Neal. From 13th July, the festival moves to the 14th-century Montalcino Fortress with a big band - 20 elements in all - created to celebrate the great combination that has made this festival famous throughout the world: the Jazz & Wine Orchestra directed by Mario Corvini (ft. Ronnie Cuber and Susanna Stivali). On 14 July, the festival continues with Ronnie Cuber and Tonino Horta Quintet.

Friday 15 July is the turn of Leghorn-born Bobo Rondelli, who presents his theatre project 'Ciampi ve lo faccio vedere io' on the Ilcinese stage. Saturday 16 July continues with the sax of Gaetano Partipilo in 'Besides Live'. Special guest for the Jazz&Wine festival is the splendid, groove-laden voice of Simona Bencini, historic voice of Dirotta su Cuba. An extraordinary finale awaits us on Sunday 17 July, with the debut on the Jazz&Wine stage in Montalcino of the internationally renowned Italian jazz musician Paolo Fresu Quintet.

Jazz & Wine News

This edition of the festival is accompanied by a great novelty. On 12 July, on the occasion of the opening concert at Castello Banfi, the works realised during Montalcino Wine and Design Week will be presented to the press. Six internationally renowned designers developed their works in collaboration with leading Tuscan marble and metal producers. The works, on display in the following days at OCRA and Castello Banfi, will be auctioned during the Fashion & Design Week in London next September. The project is the result of Banfi's collaboration with Matter of Stuff (a London-based design platform founded in 2014 by architects Simona Autieri and Sofia Steffenoni) and OCRA (Officina Creativa dell'Abitare, a workshop of art and culture, a point of reference in the Montalcino area, where talents and ideas related to the concept of Living are cultivated).

For the nineteenth consecutive year, two such intimate and intense pleasures, jazz music and great quality wine, are celebrating their exciting encounter in the symbolic town of Brunello, Montalcino, with increasing success. The twinning between Jazz&Wine in Montalcino, Jazz&Wine of Peace in Cormòns and Zola Jazz&Wine is confirmed. Tuscany, then, Friuli Venezia Giulia and Emilia, united under the banner of quality music and good wine. An unmissable comparison, with different territorial and productive realities, but united by the same passion for great jazz.

The festival will also be a tribute to the memory of the late Giampiero Rubei, the creator, soul and heart of Jazz&Wine. In the name of continuity, the Artistic Direction is entrusted to his son, Paolo Rubei.

Banfi Castle - The Village is proud to announce its admission to Traveller Made®.

The innovative brand has created a sophisticated network of travel agencies dedicated to building customised high-profile trips. These are true 'designers' who, together, represent the best representatives of the luxury industry. This system allows them to improve the quality of the service offered, meeting customer satisfaction.

For more information: www.travellermade.com

Banfi Castle - The Village is among the most beautiful castles in Tuscany, in a report published in The Nation dedicated to accommodation in the heart of Tuscany.

Banfi Castle - The Village announced that it is one of the winners of TripAdvisor's Travellers' Choice™ 2016 hotel award in the category Travellers' Choice for hotels.

Now in its 14th year, TripAdvisor honoured the best international establishments on the basis of millions of reviews and opinions collected over the course of a year by travellers from all over the world. Awards were presented to establishments in the categories: Best Hotels, Best Rates, Best Inns and Bed & Breakfasts, Best Luxury Hotels, Best Service and Best Small Hotels. The distinguishing features of the Travellers' Choice award winners are service excellence, quality and convenience.

Travellers' Choice for hotels: Castello Banfi wins - Il Borgo

"We congratulate the establishments that have won Travellers' Choice awards for hotels," says Barbara Messing, Director of Marketing for TripAdvisor. "When travellers choose where to book their next trip, they should check out the award winners that have already pleased millions of TripAdvisor community members."

To see TripAdvisor traveller reviews and opinions for Castello Banfi - Il Borgo, please visit www.tripadvisor.it/Hotel_Review-g635634-d648286-Reviews-Castello_Banfi_Il_Borgo-Montalcino_Tuscany.html.
To find out about all the Travellers' Choice 2016 award winners, visit www.tripadvisor.it/TravellersChoice-Hotels.
Travellers can also follow the conversation on Twitter with the hashtag #travellerschoice.

About TripAdvisor

TripAdvisor® is the world's largest travel portal*, enabling travellers to plan and book the perfect trip. TripAdvisor offers recommendations from millions of travellers and a wide range of travel options and planning features with useful links to booking tools that check hundreds of websites to find hotels at the best prices. TripAdvisor-branded sites represent the world's largest community of travellers, with 350 million unique monthly visitors** and more than 290 million reviews and opinions for 5.3 million accommodations, restaurants and attractions. The sites are active in 47 countries around the world.

*Source: comScore Media Metrix for TripAdvisor sites, worldwide data, July 2015
**Source: TripAdvisor log file, average monthly unique users, Q3 2015

"We are here today, friends, employees and acquaintances, to remember, on the sad occasion of his passing, Harry Mariani, a calm and elegant man, with gentle and affable manners who, together with his brother John, in times not out of suspicion, when the Italy of quality wine was still closed in on itself, succeeded in giving credibility and space on the markets, first American and then world-wide, to products that were indeed of excellence but which were not yet known, blossomed. I often think back to the beginning, when they came looking for me and together we created the Castello Banfiare indelible memories of a lifetime of work, joys and rewards'.

The moving farewell to Harry Mariani

Through the words of Ezio Rivella - the world-famous oenologist who developed the visionary project of the Italo-American brothers in Montalcino - pronounced during the suffrage celebration held in the Castello Banfi winery, the world of Italian and American wine said goodbye yesterday to one of its great protagonists and pioneers: Harry Mariani, who died in Huntington (New York) at the age of 78 on 5 January.

Ezio Rivella was echoed by Remo Grassi, vice-president and managing director of the Montalcino winery, who remembered the pioneer as he attended the funeral yesterday at St. Patrick's Church in Huntington: "With Harry goes a piece of wine history. It is thanks to an intuition of his and his alter ego, his brother John, that quality Italian wine crossed the borders first of the States and then of the world: they literally taught Americans to appreciate, drink and buy excellent wines. With the Mariani family, in fact, Brunello has had its consecration among quality wines in every corner of the globe. Harry leaves a great void for us at Castello Banfi".

Harry's death leaves, without a doubt, a huge void for all those who know, live and 'frequent' the world of wine, but, certainly, the memory of his life, his work and his intuition, will be a comfort and stimulus for all those who work in this sector.

https://www.consorziobrunellodimontalcino.it/news/?p=9206

He was the man behind the American success of Lambrusco and Brunello di Montalcino. Harry Mariani died in Huntington, New York. The news was given by Wine Spectator. He was 78 years old. With his brother John he was honorary president of Castello Banfi, the family estate in Tuscany.

It all started with a small company that imported wine and food for Italian Americans in New York. The two brothers' father opened it in 1919 in Greenwich Village. In 1964 Harry became the president, his brother the managing director. The former was account-conscious and calm. The second was extrovert and full of ideas. The two set out to find new markets. And they came across a partisan in Milan, Walter Sacchetti, senator and 'ambassador' of the Emilian co-ops in the world. It was 1967: Comrade Spartaco convinced John Mariani to take Lambrusco to America. It was a success: 11 million cases a year, thanks to the drive of Cantine Riunite, led by Sacchetti himself. The Americans wanted 'The Italian Coca Cola', as Harry called Lambrusco, making it easier, sweeter and more sparkling. In 1983 it became the first Italian wine consumed in the States. It even ended up in cans. Then the descent.

Harry, the man who launched Brunello in the USA

Harry and John, with their coffers full thanks to Lambrusco, landed in Montalcino in the mid 1970s. Becoming from importers to producers. At the time, only 300,000 bottles of Brunello were sold, and it was an unknown quantity to US consumers (the last vintage on the market, 2010, exceeded 9.2 million bottles). The Mariani's oenologist, Ezio Rivella, recounted in his book Io e Brunello (Baldini Castoldi Dalai) that the area where Castello Banfi was to be built was 'desolate'. Harry wanted large spaces and Rivella bought 'at derisory prices', 2,830 hectares, 850 of which were planted with Sangiovese and Moscadello, and Giovanni Mastropaolo's medieval castle.

The winery, opened with a Hollywood party, was capable of producing twice as much as all the other Montalcino winemakers put together. The initial hostility ('make sweet wine for the Americans') disappeared when the million bottles of Castello Banfi consecrated the launch of Brunello in the world. Now Montalcino has lost a piece of its 20th century history.

(Source: divini.corriere.it)

Harry Mariani, founder with his brother John of the Banfi winery in Montalcino, died on 5 January in Huntington (NY) at the age of 78. He was born in New York on 21 January 1937.

Farewell to Harry Mariani

In the Seventies and Eighties of the last century, the two brothers had the intuition to import Lambrusco from Cantine Riunite, which soon became a fixed presence on American tables, so much so that in 1983, with 11 million cases, it became the number one imported wine in the US. Thanks to this commercial success, Harry and John wanted to invest in Italy and entrusted themselves to Ezio Rivella who, in 1977, bought almost 2000 hectares in Montalcino, giving rise to an unrepeatable deal in terms of the amount of capital that Castello Banfi represents.

The new Italo-American company was ideally placed for the diffusion of Brunello, until then little known, in the US market. Success that was to come in the mid-1990s.

Harry has always been the mind behind all administrative, sales and marketing activities of the company, contributing to the transformation of Banfi Products Corp from a small family business in upstate New York to one of America's largest wine importing companies.

Mariani leaves behind his wife Anne, his daughters Ginny Kitt and Katy Goodrich, and his son James, who together with Cristina Mariani-May, John's daughter and Harry's granddaughter, runs Banfi.

(Source: Tre Bicchieri of 07-01-2016, edited by Andrea Gabbrielli)