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 ottobre 2007 – Siamo giunti al consueto  appuntamento con le recensioni delle più importanti guide italiane del vino ancora una volta puntuali nel decretare le etichette protagoniste durante il 2007.

Per quanto riguarda Banfi, grande successo per i nostri vini più moderni ed “internazionali”, come i  pluri-premiati SummuS ed ExcelsuS, ma anche e finalmente, il giusto riconoscimento al nostro Mandrielle Merlot, ai vertici anch’esso dalla più qualificata critica ufficiale.

Negli ultimi anni il nostro team tecnico ha lavorato moltissimo sulla famiglia dei monovarietali, con alcune innovazioni sia in campagna che in cantina che hanno consentito una più autentica ed elegante espressione del frutto.

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

I “3 bicchieri” attribuiti dalla guida “Vini d’Italia” di Gambero Rosso & Slow Food al Mandrielle 2004 decretano e certificano, quindi, il successo di questa nuova filosofia produttiva.

Anche quest’anno, come lo scorso, trasversali apprezzamenti nelle guide dell’Associazione Italiana Sommelier, of Maroni and of Veronelli per i nostri due SuperTuscan-gioiello che nella splendida vendemmia 2004 raggiungono un picco qualitativo eccezionale.

Il nostro Brunello 2002 è stato inoltre giudicato da Wine Spectator the best of all the Brunellos produced, and was awarded 4 stars out of Decanter.

Una produzione, quella di Banfi, che sia nelle grandi annate così come nelle piccole, sia con le grandi denominazioni che con i vini più moderni, si distingue per una qualità difficilmente eguagliabile.