20 July 2008, Montalcino - The eleventh edition of 'Jazz & Wine in Montalcino', the important musical event strongly desired by the Banfi winery, the cultural association Jazz & Image of Rome and the Municipality of Montalcino.

Montalcino - Great success for the 11th edition of Jazz & Wine in Montalcino

As is now customary, after the inaugural concert, held within the evocative walls of Castello Banfi, the festival moved to the splendid 14th-century fortress of Montalcino. On stage, within this evocative setting, some of the most authoritative and refined artists of the national and international jazz scene performed.

Just to name a few, among the Italians the unmistakable trumpet of Enrico Ravaa regular on the Montalcino stage, and Stefano Bollani Cariocawhich returned to Montalcino after a few years' absence, which closed this 11th edition with a sell-out.

Many stars of the international jazz scene, starting with Mike Stern with the legendary quartet of Yellow Jackets, protagonists of an evening that was an extraordinary success with the public. This was followed by the great orchestra of Chicago Jazz Ensamble and acclaimed by the public, Shawnn Monteiro who won everyone over with his scratchy voice.

This last edition, thanks to a highly prestigious programme and the growing involvement of all the partners involved, saw a truly exceptional success in terms of audience attendance, testifying to the importance that this festival, which began in 1998, has assumed over the years.

Montalcino, 30 June 2008 - Royal Vineyards, the Piedmontese brand of the Banfi group, has expanded its product range with a prestigious Metodo Classico, the Cuvée Aurora Rosè 2005. This pure Pinot Noir is produced from hand-picked grapes coming exclusively from the estate's own vineyards, located in the high hills of the Langhe south of Alba.

A new label for Regal Vines - Cuvée Aurora Rosé

Belonging to the Alta Langa DOC, the new label joins the Cuvée Aurora Brut, which has already been on the market for a few years and on this occasion has been completely renewed in its packaging.

On Cuvée Aurora Rosé has an appealing powdery pink colour, a fine and persistent perlage, intense and elegant aromas reminiscent of golden apples, with hints of dog rose and vanilla; good structure, balanced and silky.

The Cuvée Aurora Rosé, excellent as an aperitif, pairs perfectly with white meats and fish dishes. Distributed by Banfi Distribuzione srl.

16-25 April 2008 - Seven lucky Target 2007 winning agents who, at the 2008 vintagehad the pleasure of visiting the famous and prestigious chilean wine valleys. It was an exciting and constructive experience in which we had the opportunity to get to know different and interesting wineries.

Banfi trip to Chile

From the enchanting and 'wild' Bodega de Los Robles (in the Colchagua Valley) where Emiliana is dedicated to the production of biodynamic wines, to the impeccable and elegant charm of the Almaviva winery (in the Maipo Valley), where Concha y Toro in collaboration with Baron Philippe de Rothschild produces Chile's first Premier Grand Cru Classé.

Passion for wine was the main theme of this magnificent experience, which ended in northern Chile with an unforgettable visit to the Atacama Desert, the driest desert in the world. Hasta luego!

Montalcino, 5 March 2008 - Banfi, the well-known Montalcino winery, from next April expands its already vast range of distributed wines by including in its portfolio one of the most extreme, extraordinary and incredible types of wine in the world, theicewine.

Banfi adds a new jewel: inniskillin, the iceWine par excellence - Banfi

In keeping with its well-established line of choices for high-quality wines, Banfi has opted for the exclusive distribution in Italy of an elite brand such as Inniskillin, a prestigious producer in Canada of this precious and unusual wine. The award-winning company was founded in 1975 by Donald Ziraldo, son of Italian emigrants, and Karl J. Kaiser, of Austrian origin.

Icewine is a sweet wine, but not necessarily a dessert wine, for the production of which, in order to achieve maximum sugar concentration and extreme sweetness calibrated by excellent acidity, it requires a specific meteorological characteristic, namely temperatures that remain eight to ten degrees below zero for a long time.

The purity, the freshness of the aromas, the varietal characteristics of the grapes used, the fragrances conferred by this very special concentration represented by the 'icing' of the grapes, are enhanced by vinification and ageing carried out exclusively in steel.

Banfi will start distribution with three of the wines from Inniskillin's extensive range: a Cabernet Franc, a Vidal and a Riesling.

3 March 2008 - A great accolade has been awarded by Wine Spectator to the Casillero del Diablo Carmenere 2006, one of the Chilean wines from Concha y Toro's Diablo Casillero line: 88 Points and 'Best Value', the highest score awarded to the line Casillero del Diablo by this authoritative American magazine.

Casillero del Diablo Carmenere 2006 'Best Value' Wine Spectator

In addition to this important achievement, Carmenere 2006 was mentioned in the list of the best wines with the best value for money (Best Value), confirming once again the quality of Chilean wines from Concha y Toro.

The accompanying commentary extols its structure. "Hints of cocoa, gooseberry and tobacco leading to a very long finish. A wine with excellent value for money."

12 November, 2007 - Montalcino - John F. Mariani, owner of themontalcinese winery Castello Banfias well as the US wine import company Banfi Vintners, was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award by the prestigious magazine Wine Enthusiast.

The coveted award is the result of the '2007 Wine Star Awards' given each year to the world's top wines, the full list of which will be published in the December issue of the authoritative American magazine.

The award ceremony will be held at a gala dinner on 28 January at the New York Public Library.

Wine Enthusiast: Lifetime Achievement Award to John Mariani

John Mariani, together with his brother Harry, represents the second generation of Banfi, a company that is now run by Cristina Mariani-May, John's daughter, and Harry's son, James. With this award, Wine Enthusiast wished to recognise the influential role played by John Mariani in world oenology. John began in the mid-1950s with the expansion of Banfi Vintners' wine portfolio.

The company, which until then had dealt exclusively with Italian wines, also introduced German, Swiss and French labels that would enable it, in the early 1960s, to become the leading importer of French wines into the United States. John continued its progress with the introduction of Riunite's Lambrusco into the American market.

On wine immediately achieved enormous success and became so popular that it remained at the top, in the imported wine category, for over forty years. In 1988, a collaboration began, for the American market, with Concha y Toro, one of the most important Chilean wineries, owned by the Guilisasti family, positioning the brand in the top wine segment in the world.

In the meantime, at the end of the 1970s he took a really important step, John became a producer himself by founding Castello Banfi in Montalcino, a company that was to contribute decisively to the worldwide success of Brunello.

Banfi and Brunello di Montalcino

Castello Banfi, known today internationally for its clonal research on the Sangiovese Brunello grape variety and for the production of high quality wines, was the first winery in the world to receive certifications for environmental, ethical and social responsibility (ISO 14001 and SA 8000) as well as for quality (ISO 9001:2000).

Castello Banfi has become the centrepiece of thehospitality of the area, offering multiple services such as the wine shop, the Glass and Bottle Museum, the balsamery, guided tours of the wine cellar, two restaurants, one with traditional Tuscan cuisine and the other, a Michelin star, with international cuisine, up to the recent opening of the relais Castello Banfi - Il Borgo.

Banfi's successes have also enabled the company to play an important philanthropic role through the Banfi Vintners Foundation.

Banfi Vintners Foundation

With a donation, the Foundation contributed to the construction of a technical school, an orphanage and the planning of 800 housing units in Potenza after the devastating earthquake in the early 1980s.

Every year, it also donates to various associations and universities around the world and promotes the culture of Italian wine and food by sponsoring student tours.

Although involved in other activities, Banfi still remains focused on the production and import of high quality wines.

Earlier this year, John Mariani was awarded an 'Honoris Causa' law degree by Shannon College, Ireland. In 1985, he also received a doctorate in financial administration, 'Honoris Causa', from Johnson & Wales University, Rhode Island.

He was made a Knight of the Republic of Italy in 1982 and is a member of the Board of Trustees of Cornell University as well as the Dean's Advisory Councils of Cornell Johnson Business School and Cornell Hotel School.

In 1987, he was awarded Entrepreneur of the Year by the Johnson's School following Citigroup's Sanford Weill and Christopher Hemmeter's prolific development of some of Hawaii's leading hotels and resorts.

In 2001, John Mariani received the National Education and Leadership Award from the Sons of Italy Association in the USA.

"John Mariani's vision and development of ideas, which succeeded in bringing wine into American homes and restaurants, have contributed to the growth of wine quality around the world," says Wine Enthusiast publisher Adam M. Strum The mission of Wine Enthusiast magazine, founded in 1988, is to educate and entertain readers with wine and everything that revolves around it in a simple and easily accessible way.

Wine Enthusiast

Wine Enthusiast has grown to become one of the world's most highly regarded and respected wine publications.

The magazine is an important resource for wines and spirits in general available on the market, vital for both consumers and professionals, with 500,000 copies distributed in specialised sectors and book shops.

Wine Enthusiast also organises numerous events aimed at both consumers and a more specialised public.

Montalcino, 5 December 2007 - Wine and science, an inseparable pair when it comes to quality. Among the Italian wineries that were the first to understand the importance of entering into agreements with the country's most important universities, for the implementation of scientific research in the vineyard and cellar, is Castello Banfi, l'leading producer of Brunello di Montalcino.

Following the thread of its commitment to excellence, Banfi has now collected in a prestigious volume over 20 years of studies carried out in collaboration with the Universities of Milan and Pisa. The book deals thematically with the lines of applied research that have characterised the daily operations of Castello Banfi throughout its intense, albeit brief, history.

Presentation of the book: 'The Quest for Excellence

"La Ricerca dell'Eccellenza", a limited edition that will not be on sale but will become a precious Christmas gift for selected insiders in the world of wine, will be presented on 6 December in Rome, in the headquarters of the Enciclopedia Treccani, an authoritative and unusual location that only in very rare circumstances has opened its doors to the public.

Some of Italy's best-known oenology experts will be taking part in the event, such as Professor Attilio Scienza, Professor of Viticulture at the University of Milan, who will illustrate the important research that began at Castello Banfi in the early 1980s with his collaboration.

There will also be Professor Amedeo Alpi, lecturer at the University of Pisa; with Professor Sergio Miele of the Department of Agronomy of the same university, Castello Banfi has, in fact, signed a research agreement for years for the study of the main agronomic issues.

Professor Carlo Cannella, a renowned nutritionist, will talk about the relationship between wine and health: according to the most recent international discoveries, in fact, moderate wine consumption is considered an important element in the prevention of numerous pathologies. Finally, the philosopher Tullio Gregory will discuss the well-being of the modern age, with the important role played by wine in our diet.

Together with Enrico Viglierchio, general director of Castello Banfi, the authoritative professor Gian Tommaso Scarascia Mugnozza, president of the Accademia Nazionale delle Scienze, known as Accademia dei XL, will speak.

The meaning of the book

This book is meant to be an acknowledgement to all those who have contributed to the success of Castello Banfi, shaping a starting material, the Montalcino territory, that had great potential in itself, but little expressed and above all not recognised at world level.

The book deals with natural and genetic resources (climate, soils and landscapes of the estate's territory, viticultural zoning, clonal selection of Sangiovese, the wild grapevine and the origins of cultivated varieties), the evolution of production technology in the vineyard (agronomic soil management, stages in the estate's development of cultivation techniques, irrigation, weed control), the valorisation of grapes (wine aromas, the wood/wine relationship, the cellar seen in its development), and the Social Responsibility (with reference to the certifications obtained by Castello Banfi).

10 October 2007 - We have reached the usual appointment with the reviews of the most important Italian wine guides, once again punctual in decreeing the leading labels during 2007.

As far as Banfi is concerned, great success for our more modern and 'international' wines, such as the multi-award-winning SummuS and ExcelsuS, but also, and finally, the rightful recognition of our Mandrielle Merlot, also ranked high by the most qualified official critics.

In recent years, our technical team has done a lot of work on the monovarietal family, with some innovations both in the vineyard and in the cellar that have enabled a more authentic and elegant expression of the fruit.

Banfi's great wines at the top of the major Italian wine guides

I '3 glasses' awarded by the Gambero Rosso & Slow Food 'Vini d'Italia' guide to the Mandrielle 2004 thus decrees and certifies the success of this new production philosophy.

Again this year, as last, cross-appreciation in the guides of the Italian Sommelier Association, of Maroni and of Veronelli for our two SuperTuscan-gioiello wines, which reach an exceptional peak of quality in the splendid 2004 vintage.

Our Brunello 2002 was also judged by Wine Spectator the best of all the Brunellos produced, and was awarded 4 stars out of Decanter.

A production, that of Banfi, which both in the great vintages as well as the small ones, both with the great appellations and the more modern wines, is distinguished by a quality that is difficult to equal.