Barbi

The Colombini family has owned land in Montalcino since 1352 and has owned Fattoria dei Barbi since the end of the 18th century.

In the early 19th century Paolo Colombini moved the family’s centre of activity toward Montalcino. His son Pio Colombini, a medical professor, produced the first bottles of Brunello and expanded the estate through his marriage to Elina Padelletti.

Brunello production is documented from 1892. The estate became an early international exporter and maintains a historical archive of vintages.

Giovanni Colombini, born in 1906, pioneered modern wine marketing and tourism. He opened Italy’s first public wine shop in the Montalcino fortress in 1936, developed mail-order wine sales and opened the estate cellar to visitors in the 1950s.

After Giovanni’s death in 1976, management passed first to his daughter Francesca and later to his grandson Stefano Cinelli Colombini.

The estate extends over more than 350 hectares in southern Tuscany, with properties in Montalcino, Scansano and Chianti. Brunello vineyards include marl and alberese soils at elevations up to 500 m.

The estate has pioneered organic fertilizers, research tools and low-sulfite winemaking. The no-added-sulfites line uses healthy organic grapes from dry Maremma conditions and is VIVA certified.

For Brunello, grapes receive cold pre-fermentative maceration at 16°C under CO₂, followed by controlled fermentation. The estate combines traditional aging with research and has maintained a deep historical bottle archive.

The estate combines custodianship of Montalcino tradition with a long record of technical, commercial and tourism innovation.