In Toscana lo scenario degli hotel di campagna è cambiato molto rapidamente dal 1960, quando la guida Michelin per l’Italia non aveva indicato nemmeno una struttura nella zona del Chianti. Nonostante il boom delle strutture ricettive degli anni 1970, 1980 e 1990, la scelta si limitava in ogni caso all’agriturismo, inteso come vacanza in fattoria, o ad antiquate ville di campagne che fungevano da hotel. Negli ultimi anni però si è assistito alla nascita di alcuni resort e spa di lusso, ma anche a buone soluzioni di medio livello in cui gli ospiti ricevono un trattamento personalizzato e cordiale.

CASTELLO BANFI IL BORGO

Al centro della più estesa tenuta vitivinicola di Montalcino – fondata da uno dei principali importatori statunitensi  di vino alla fine degli anni ’70 – si erge un meraviglioso castello di epoca medievale. Appena fuori dalle sue mura si trova un grazioso borgo in cui vivevano i lavoratori della tenuta, trasformato adesso in un albergo di 14 camere. A prima vista potrebbe anche apparire un po’ troppo perfetto, ma la perfezione può anche rivelarsi molto piacevole, ed in questo Il Borgo riesce con grande eleganza.

Nelle case ristrutturate del borgo, affacciate sui due lati di un ripido viottolo, ci sono un paio di suite per ciascun lato, oltre ad una (perfetta per la luna di miele) ricavata all’interno di quella che era la scuola elementare del borgo.

L’arredatore di interni Federico Forquet ha optato per una versione colorata ma calda dello stile classico, originario, tipico delle case della campagna toscana, usando tinte ricche e motivi tessili floreali. I bagni (molti dei quali con vasca e doccia a pioggia di grandi dimensioni) sono molto spaziosi, e dotati di una linea cortesia personalizzata Castello Banfi e prodotta con le uve Sangiovese provenienti dai vigneti di proprietà.

La piscina esterna, pur se di piccole dimensioni, offre una vista straordinaria che dalla bassa Val d’Orcia arriva fino al Monte Amiata.

The La Taverna Restaurant, tradizionale e innegabilmente raffinato, è aperto anche di sera – momento meno affollato rispetto all’ora di pranzo.Il castello stesso fa parte dell’hotel, con una sala lettura riservata esclusivamente agli ospiti, in cui è possibile assaporare un aperitivo così come rilassarsi dopo cena, e con un chiostro tipicamente toscano dove si può sedere sotto una graziosa pergola. E nonostante il limitato numero di camere, i servizi offerti – inclusa una piccola sala fitness – sono da albergo a 5 stelle.

Castello Banfi Il Borgo: 00 39 0577 877700

www.castellobanfiwineresort.it

Doppie da €340

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Montalcino, 3 August 2010 - The Taverna Banfi is once again honoured to receive the prestigious 'Wine Spectator Magazine's Restaurant Award of Excellence', an award given on the basis of the wine list, of which it "offers an excellent selection, coupled with excellent food and competitively priced."

Wine Spectator, regarded as one of the most influential international trade magazines, awards the prize of excellence each year to just under 3,000 restaurants worldwide.

Taverna Banfi awarded with excellence by Wine Spectator

The Taverna, located under the vaults of the old cellars of the medieval castle of Poggio alle Mura where the large wooden barrels used to age Brunello di Montalcino once rested, presents traditional Montalcino and Tuscan dishes, enhanced by the freshness and simplicity of local ingredients.

Its selection of hors d'oeuvres, first courses, meat, fish and desserts is prepared according to local tradition and is inspired by the seasonality of local products; three-, four- or five-course tasting menus are available, as well as an extensive à la carte menu.

Always open for lunch, the Taverna Banfi opens its doors to visitors who are also pleased to stay for dinner between April and November. On one side of the Taverna it is still possible to admire the castle dungeon, where bottled vintages from 1960 to 1970 are stored, while the other side offers a breathtaking view of the Tuscan landscape below.

At the nearby Enoteca it is also possible to taste excellent local cheeses and classic Tuscan ham paired with Banfi wines. There is also an important selection of art books, dedicated to the world of wine, cuisine, Tuscan history and architecture, as well as various ceramic, glass and jewellery objects produced by our local artisans.

Visitors are also invited to visit the Bottle and Glass Museum, named after Giovanni F. Mariani, which houses the largest private collection of Roman glass in the world, as well as to participate in the guided tours, available daily, of the Banfi cellars.

The Taverna Banfi offers its services both to visitors passing through and to guests of Castello Banfi - Il Borgo, the hotel structure adjacent to the castle offering 14 luxurious rooms and suites.

Weddings or special events can also be organised within the castle walls. Reservations are possible by contacting reservation@banfi.it or via the website www.banfi.it.

From Robin Eubanks to Avion Travel, eight great concerts celebrating jazz and great wine.

Jazz & Wine in Montalcino, one of the longest-running events on the Italian music scene, was born in 1998 from the collaboration between Castello Banfi, the well-known Montalcino winery, the cultural association Jazz & Image of Rome and the Municipality of Montalcino. Also this 13th edition will propose, as usual, an extremely rich and heterogeneous programme that will range over different musical languages, with particular attention to the great female voices of Jazz.

On Wednesday 14 July, the opening concert will be held within the evocative walls of Castello Banfi and will feature a quartet of absolute international calibre: Robin Eubanks with Pippo Matino 4tet, a truly special encounter between the great American trombonist and one of Italy's most interesting electric bassists.

Castello Banfi and Jazz & Wine in Montalcino (13th edition): the programme

From 15 July, the festival will move, as tradition has it, to the splendid 14th-century fortress of Montalcino with the unmissable "piano solo" by Danilo Rea, one of the most elegant and eclectic protagonists of the jazz scene and beyond. Maria Joao duo, on 16 July, will open the triptych of female voices that will accompany the entire first weekend in Montalcino. Portuguese from Lisbon, with a peculiar and biting timbre, she boasts many years of experience alongside the greatest interpreters of international jazz. On Saturday 17 July, the splendid voice of Rossana Casale, accompanied by her quartet, will return to the Montalcino stage with the project 'The Wine Concert and Readings', absolutely in keeping with the spirit and roots of the festival. The first week will close on 18 July with Roberta Gambarini 4tet, one of the most appreciated and established female voices abroad thanks to her undeniable improvisational abilities and an interpretative technique of absolute level.

The Mirabassi-Renzi-Parker Trio will open the second week of the festival on Thursday 22 July with a concert that promises to be the perfect fusion of three great personalities of the international jazz scene. Then, on 23 July, it will be the turn of another great trio of refined elegance and great experience, the Pietropaoli-DeVito-Mazzariello with their concert-tribute to Joni Mitchell.On 24 July, the festival will close with the "Avion Travel" orchestra, who will play the best of their latest works: Danson Metropoli and Nino Rota, l'amico magico.

For the thirteenth consecutive year, two such intimate and intense pleasures, jazz music and great quality wine, are celebrating their exciting encounter in Montalcino, the symbolic town of Brunello, with increasing success.

For information contact: Pro-Loco Montalcino - tel. 0577 849331 - Email: info@prolocomontalcino.it

Marketing Banfi - tel. 0577 840 111- Email: marketing@banfi.it

Concerts: 9.45 p.m. - tickets 10.00/13.00 euro - presale c/o Proloco Montalcino

July 2010, Christopher Petkanas - For years, tourists have demanded nothing more from Tuscany than its brightness and landscapes, its Renaissance heritage, its food and wine. If the hotels had few comforts, if the person who prepared the pasta in the kitchen was the same person who made your bed, you still had an ambience full of enchantment and animated by goodwill. A trip to this region was in itself an extraordinary reward.

La Tuscany has become one of those rare, iconic, inexhaustible destinations to which people return. Thirty years have passed since Tuscany and Provence became real rivals. But while the south of France can sometimes be guilty of forgetting what brought people there, Tuscany has never sold its soul for popularity. Icon yes, diva no.

Today, a new generation of hotels has arrived in the region, which can still be described as young. This includes the 'borgo' phenomenon, i.e. the transformation of old country cottages into 'all-in-one' properties, which include restaurants, shops and vineyards. Another type is the 'villa', with rich histories and important architecture.

All offer sublime comfort and aspire to an excellent level of service. They are so sophisticated that they would not be out of place in the elegant setting of the Amalfi coast. Tuscany grows by going back in time.

Banfi Castle, The Village

Castello Banfi - Poggio alle Mura is one of the largest estates in Tuscany and, since its opening, its new hotel, Il Borgo, is probably also the most elegant.

Just as Federico Forquet has won the most important awards for style, the Mariani family has done the same with wine. Among them the two most important Brunellos, the Poggio all'Oro Riserva and the cru Poggio alle Mura. Forquet began his career as an assistant to Balenciaga, launching his own home line in Rome in 1962, when he was nicknamed 'the Italian Dior'.

At this time, every Italian princess wished to have the precious Buccellati objects designed by Forquet. After ten years he left the fashion world, moving into garden design and, following his Neapolitan origins, decorating houses with Visconti splendour, for clients such as Marella Agnelli and Oscar de la Renta, known for their inflexibility.

After these achievements, Forquet only accepts jobs that he finds compelling enough to take him away from his home in Cetona, an hour's drive from Banfi. Sometimes it is the interiors of splendid hotels: the Caruso, in Ravello, Villa San Michele in Fiesole. And now Il Borgo.

The property

The 14-room property at the top of the hill is a hamlet built in the 1700s to house farm workers and servants in service to the castle, located just above. The population grew to around 300 in the decade leading up to the First World War and remained stable until 1950, when the land reform introduced by the Italian government dismantled the entire old sharecropping system.

The hotel reception occupies the shop and post office, which closed shortly before the Mariani acquired Poggio alle Mura (historical name of Castello Banfi) in 1984. By that year, the number of inhabitants had dropped to less than 20.

Today, the old school is room number 37. Nothing transpires of the use that was made of these spaces, but the mere knowledge of it adds to its uniqueness. The hotel's hilltop location loses itself in extravagant views giving a sense of privileged isolation. Inside there is a very comfortable reading room, a museum with the world's largest private collection of ancient Roman glass (plus works by Dali, Cocteau and Picasso), and a spectacular courtyard where jazz concerts are held in summer. [...] One of the five buildings surrounding the castle walls houses La Taverna [...].

Next door is a large, beautiful wine shop that also sells ceramic coats of arms and other wine accessories, Banfi olive oil, colourful ceramics made by local artisans, handmade soaps, and real wine service jewellery [...].

A condiment that is not, rightly, called Balsamic Vinegar, since we are not in Emilia Romagna, but Salsa Etrusca, made in a dedicated room, following the traditional Solera method used to make authentic balsamic. [...] Banfi is one of the few estates in this area that encourages cellar visits, for which reservations are required.

It is five minutes by car or a 20-minute walk through vineyards. According to Forquet, many people wouldn't give a lira for rattan furniture and checked fabrics. So what's the secret? Well, the big secret is the way he manages to 'casually' combine modest and rich elements, such as Austrian hot air balloons and orchids in silver vases so clean you can mirror yourself in them. Fanciful walls painted with latticework wrapped in wine, a faux-bois masterpiece sculpted with bunches of grapes is another ingredient of Forquet's best work. [...].

Il prestigioso riconoscimento è stato conferito alla cantina-simbolo del Brunello di Montalcino durante un esclusivo evento dedicato al mondo del vino,  ideato e condotto da Franco M. Ricci 

La Castello Banfi, cantina-simbolo del territorio di Montalcino, maggior artefice del successo del Brunello nel mondo, si aggiudica il Premio Speciale della Giuria 2010.

Premio Internazionale del Vino 2010

Con una motivazione davvero molto sentita Franco M. Ricci, Presidente dell’AIS, ha presentato l’ambito riconoscimento al numeroso pubblico presente in sala: “Pionieri e protagonisti dell’ambizioso progetto italiano mirato al mercato internazionale del vino di qualità, hanno contribuito in maniera determinante al successo del nostro paese, fino a renderlo il primo assoluto nel mercato americano. In Italia le loro sperimentazioni e ricerche, in vigna e in cantina, hanno fatto scuola alla nuova enologia nascente. Un’azienda nata con un sano rapporto con l’ambiente, e sviluppata attraverso importanti investimenti nella cultura, che hanno prodotto un fondamentale arricchimento del territorio”.

Il premio è stato consegnato il 5 giugno a Roma durante il Premio Internazionale del Vino 2010, lo straordinario evento creato da Franco M. Ricci.  A ritirare il prestigioso riconoscimento, John Mariani, fondatore nel 1978 della rinomata azienda montalcinese insieme al fratello Harry, ed Enrico Viglierchio, Direttore Generale di Banfi Italia. L’evento sarà trasmesso su Rai Uno, il 17 luglio alle ore 23.00.

“Nessun singolo avrebbe potuto raggiungere simili risultati” ha dichiarato John Mariani durante la cerimonia di premiazione, “ Questo è il lavoro di una grande squadra, un team che ha lavorato per Montalcino, per l’Italia, per gli amanti del vino di qualità in tutto il mondo. Il nostro è un incessante percorso per il raggiungimento dell’eccellenza”.

The prestigious wines of Castello Banfi will be served in the Business Class of three national airlines.

From 1 October 2010 and until the end of December, the Belnero, Banfi's latest label and expression of the company's strong and indissoluble bond with the terroir of Montalcino and its main grape variety, Sangiovese, will be offered to passengers in Aer Lingus Business Class.

"Belnero is the latest wine born at Castello Banfi in the last decade," says Cristina Mariani-Mayowner of Castello Banfi. "We are very happy that it has been so well received and that travellers from all over the world can enjoy it".

Banfi flies high!

Also this year, British Airways' International first class frequent flyers will have the chance to enjoy a glass (or two!) of Castello Banfi's signature Brunello di Montalcino.

The wine selection of British Airways was made by Jancis Robinson, MW, one of the most well-known personalities in the international wine world.

Finally, Korea Air has selected for its Business Class the prestigious Fontanelle, a 100% Chardonnay that expresses itself with great substance and intense aromas, thanks to the microclimate of our northernmost Montalcino vineyards and the ageing in French barriques.

Cristina Mariani-May & Castello Banfi stars of Simple Wine News Magazine, May 2010.

The Tuscan company, which represents one of the leading Made in Italy wine ambassadors in the world, wins the prestigious VeronaFiere award for the producer from each country that obtained the highest score based on the sum of the evaluations of the best three wines awarded the Grand Mention diploma.

The Vinitaly 2010 Special Award to Castello Banfi

Castello Banfi, the winery-symbol of the Montalcino area that has made Brunello known throughout the world, was awarded the Vinitaly Italia 2010 Prize. The prize is awarded to the producer from each country that received the highest score in the evaluation of the three best wines awarded the Grand Mention diploma at the Vinitaly Wine Competition.

Inextricably linked to the territory of Montalcino and always devoted to excellence, Castello Banfi represents a model for entrepreneurship linked to agriculture. The Montalcino company has managed to cultivate technological innovation, with a view to production and environmental protection, without ever forgetting the importance of tradition.

The 2010 Vinitaly Award will be collected on 1 April in Verona by Enrico Viglierchio, General Manager of the prestigious Tuscan company that had already won the prestigious award for eleven consecutive years in the past.

Banfi Castle: what to know

Described at the time as 'the greatest project ever undertaken in the production of quality wines', Castello Banfi was founded in 1978 by the Italian-American brothers John and Harry Mariani.

The property is located on the southern side of Montalcino, which has always been considered an ideal habitat for vineyards. Castello Banfi, which also owns the Vigne Regali estate in Piedmont, produces around 11 million bottles annually (9 million in Montalcino and 1,900,000 in Piedmont).

Exports reach 56%, with a prevalence in the United States, joined by Germany, Great Britain, Norway, Japan, New Zealand and Canada. In Montalcino there are 850 hectares under vine, and 26 different references are produced; the Vigne Regali estates count 46 hectares, with 14 references. Castello Banfi is present as a distributor in over 80 countries.

Castello Banfi also played an important role in theenotourism, the key to educating people about wine culture: the 14th-century Castle, the heart of the winery (visited by more than 60,000 wine tourists every year), houses the Glass and Bottle Museum and has upgraded its reception and hospitality activities (high-level catering, wine bars, events, tastings).

The prestigious Montalcino company is the main sponsor of the first edition of Tuscan Rewindthe rally for historic cars that will cross the roads of Siena on 28, 29 and 30 May.

(Montalcino, 21 April 2010) - Montalcino's roads, made legendary in the 1980s by the World Rally Championship, will once again take centre stage on the last weekend of May (28/30 May), when the first edition of the Tuscan Rewind will get underway. Castello Banfi is the major sponsor. On 28 May, the opening day of the event and immediately after the shakedown and the technical and sporting checks of the cars and crews, Castello Banfi will be the venue for the exhibition of the cars of the top drivers, who will be at the complete disposal of fans with the new 'autograph session'.

Castello Banfi will also host, on Saturday 29 May, the dinner for all teams participating in Tuscan Rewind.

Castello Banfi

Described at the time as 'the biggest project ever in quality wine production', Castello Banfi is located on the southern side of the municipality of Montalcino, which has always been considered an ideal habitat for vine cultivation. Appreciated throughout the world for its wines and, in particular, for the prized Brunello di Montalcino, Castello Banfi has also played an important role in wine tourism with a complete and articulated offer in terms of hospitality. The more than 60,000 wine tourists who visit Castello Banfi every year, after the inevitable guided tour of the winery, can savour the dishes of the rich local cuisine at the characteristic Taverna Banfi or appreciate the excellence of Banfi wines, accompanied by typical Tuscan cheeses and cold cuts, in the spacious and welcoming Enoteca.

The mediaeval castle also houses the Glass and Bottle Museum, and the reception and hospitality activities have been enhanced with high-level catering, wine bars, events, tastings and the opening in 2007 of Castello Banfi-Il Borgo, with its 14 luxurious rooms. A much-loved binomial is undoubtedly that between Banfi and culture, which is developed through numerous events, among which the annual "Jazz & Wine" festival, a much-followed appointment in July in Montalcino (the next edition from 14 to 25 July 2010). This cultural context also includes the Wine and Glass Museum, which occupies some of the rooms of the Castle and where one can admire the largest private collection of glass from the period of Imperial Rome, as well as extremely rare objects from different eras up to the present day.