Summary
Marchesi Antinori is one of the oldest and most influential wine houses in the world. Since 1385 the Florentine Antinori family has devoted itself to wine – across 26 generations, without ever letting the estate out of its hands. Unlike pure merchant houses, Antinori owns numerous estates with vineyards of its own, above all in Toskana. The house became famous chiefly as a pioneer of the Super Tuscans: with Tignanello (from 1971) and Solaia it created wines that broke with the rigid Chianti rules and redefined the international standing of Italian wine. Today Marchese Piero Antinori leads the company together with his daughters Albiera, Allegra and Alessia.
History
The Antinori story begins long before wine: originally the family was active in Florence in silk weaving and banking. In 1385 Giovanni di Piero Antinori joined the Florentine winemakers’ guild – the moment the house counts as the beginning of its wine business. Since then the family has been continuously involved in winemaking, across 26 generations, which makes Antinori one of the oldest family-run companies in the world.
The defining figure of the modern era is Marchese Piero Antinori, who took over management in 1966. Under him the house dared to make the decisive break with tradition in the 1970s: Tignanello (first vintage 1971) left out the white grapes then prescribed for the Chianti blend, was aged in barrique and rounded out with Cabernet. Because it thus didn’t conform to the Chianti rules, it officially counted only as a simple table wine – and yet became the model for an entire movement. Today Piero’s daughters Albiera (president), Allegra and Alessia run the company.
Location & terroir
The historic centre is the Palazzo Antinori in Florence, but the vineyards are spread across the whole of Tuscany and reach as far as Umbria. The heart of it all is the Tenuta Tignanello in Chianti Classico, located between the Greve and Pesa valleys. Here, on calcareous marl and clay soils (the so-called Albarese and Galestro), grow the famous single vineyards Tignanello and Solaia.
The Tuscan family of estates also includes Pèppoli and Badia a Passignano in Chianti Classico, Guado al Tasso on the Bolgheri coast and Pian delle Vigne in Montalcino. In Umbria, Castello della Sala rounds out the portfolio, known above all for white wines. This range allows Antinori to craft distinctive wines from very different terroirs.
Style & philosophy
Antinori combines tradition with a readiness to innovate. At the centre stands the native grape variety Sangiovese, which in the Super Tuscans is rounded out with Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Merlot into dense, long-lived reds. The modern, barrique-aged style – once revolutionary – is today a hallmark of the house and a model for the whole of Tuscany.
The most visible expression of this attitude is the Antinori nel Chianti Classico winery in Bargino, which opened in 2012 after around seven years of construction. With terracotta-coloured arches, wood and Corten steel it fits almost invisibly into the hillside and combines state-of-the-art cellar technology with architecture and wine tourism – a symbol of how the house brings together past and present.
Notable vineyards & wines
The most famous wines come from the Tenuta Tignanello and the other Tuscan estates:
- Tignanello – the iconic Super Tuscan, Sangiovese with a share of Cabernet, barrique-aged
- Solaia – the Cabernet-driven top blend from the same estate, one of Italy’s legends
- Marchese Antinori Chianti Classico Riserva and Badia a Passignano Gran Selezione – classic Chianti Classico at the highest level
- Guado al Tasso – the Bolgheri red from Bordeaux varieties
- Cervaro della Sala – the well-known Chardonnay-based white wine from Umbria
Awards
Antinori is one of the most highly awarded wine houses in Italy; internationally, Tignanello and Solaia rank among the most influential and highest-rated wines in the country. The house is a member of the exclusive circle of the Primum Familiae Vini, an association of some of the most important wine families in the world. The Antinori nel Chianti Classico winery was voted “World’s Best Vineyard” in 2022. But above all the name Antinori stands for the quiet revolution that emerged from 1970s Tuscany – and that shapes the reputation of Italy’s top wines to this day.