Erik Banti

Before wine: travel, food and the move to Maremma

Erik Banti is of Danish ancestry on his mother’s side and Tuscan ancestry on his father’s. Before becoming a winegrower, he pursued several careers. He competed in golf from childhood, represented Italy at junior level and won Italian titles and tournaments abroad. He also raced cars, including the Targa Florio, and won an Italian championship in the GT 1300 class.

Banti subsequently worked as a photographer. From a studio in Piazza di Spagna in Rome, he contributed to advertising campaigns, produced reportage for National Geographic and worked as a still photographer on films by directors including Federico Fellini, Franco Zeffirelli and Mauro Bolognini.

In 1970, he opened a travel agency in Rome. Banti Viaggi took Italian travellers to the Maldives in 1972. In 1977, Banti and Stefano Milioni developed a plan to bring international visitors to Italy through food-and-wine tourism. Luigi Veronelli supported the idea, and an agreement was arranged with Alitalia, but the airline withdrew before the project launched. The setback led Banti to leave Rome for Montemerano.

1978–1981: the beginnings in Montemerano

Banti settled in Montemerano in 1978, the year in which Morellino di Scansano obtained DOC status. The surrounding vineyards, local food culture and his earlier interest in gastronomic tourism gave him the direction for a new career.

Working relationships with local growers were initially based on verbal agreements and handshakes. Growers remembered by their names or nicknames included Cignale, Troncausci, Tascapane, Calzafina, Miledi and Ivonne. They supplied grapes at agreed weights and prices.

The first official harvest bottled under Erik Banti’s name was 1981. Its grapes came from the 1.5-hectare Ciabatta holding and neighbouring farms. A small winery in Montemerano became the base of his activity. Veronelli helped him make contact with the producers then regarded as the emerging group within Morellino di Scansano. Banti travelled through Italy in a van, presenting Morellino to influential wine shops and restaurants in Milan, Turin, Bologna, Florence and other cities.

This work helped introduce Morellino di Scansano and the wines of Maremma beyond their formerly local market, first across Italy and subsequently in Europe and other international markets.

1983: Ciabatta

Ciabatta became the estate’s flagship in 1983. It is made only in the best years, with manual harvesting and selection; consequently, production varies substantially between vintages. Ciabatta later became the first wine in its denomination to receive Gambero Rosso’s Tre Bicchieri and brought wider attention to both the cellar and Morellino di Scansano. Wine writers consequently applied the epithet “Prophet of Morellino di Scansano” to Erik Banti.

1994: transfer to Scansano

In 1994, Banti moved the business from Montemerano to Scansano. The Scansano winery was later extensively remodelled. Its brick exterior was conceived in a style compared with Renzo Piano’s Auditorium in Rome, while the estate’s dove emblem appeared repeatedly along an entrance drive illuminated as visitors passed. The project added offices, a tasting room with a terrace overlooking the valley and a California-inspired wine shop.

The shop combined wine with selected artisan foods, publications and branded accessories. Products carrying the dove motif included tomato sauces, truffle cream and Roman-style artichokes, sourced from artisan producers selected by Banti.

1996: Carato

The first Carato label was released from the 1996 harvest. Its name refers to carato, a term used by Luigi Veronelli for a small oak barrel. The wine subsequently entered European and North American distribution.

Poggio Maestrino

Banti later acquired land at Poggio Maestrino in the heart of the Morellino denomination. The site produced Annoprimo, whose name was designed to change with each successive harvest—Annosecondo, Annoterzo and so forth—to emphasize the individuality of each vintage.

Planting at Poggio Maestrino included Sangiovese clones, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Petit Verdot, Mourvèdre, Syrah and Zinfandel. Vineyard posts were made with wood from Swedish Lapland, selected for the strength of its pine. The vineyard programme pursued reduced yields per hectare as a means of concentrating quality.

2017: the first Spineto Bianco

Spineto Bianco joined the range with its first label in 2017, extending the Spineto series with a Maremma Toscana DOC Vermentino.

2022: the new estate at Poggio alle Calle

After almost thirty years at the Scansano winery, the business transferred in 2022 to a new estate at Località Poggio alle Calle in Manciano, at the foot of the Albegna River. The property looks across Maremma toward Monte Amiata, Saturnia, Montemerano and the surrounding hills. The vineyards remain within the core areas of Morellino di Scansano DOCG and Maremma Toscana DOC.

The project began in mid-2022 with the objective of creating an autonomous “Total Green Estate.” Its plans combine on-site solar electricity, water recovery, precision irrigation, drought-adapted landscaping and a broader agricultural programme. The estate includes vines and olives, with almond and pistachio plantings planned as new crops for the property. A hospitality area and farm shop were also incorporated into the project for tastings, informal food service and direct sale of wine, olive oil and other estate products.

The vineyard programme combines yield management, selective harvesting and a developing environmental strategy. At the Ciabatta vineyard, pruning limits yield to no more than 70 quintals per hectare. Fruit for the flagship bottling is picked and selected by hand and used only in the best harvests, which causes production to vary considerably from year to year. Poggio Maestrino was likewise managed with reduced yields per hectare.

The new Poggio alle Calle estate is undergoing organic certification. Its water strategy centres on an existing reservoir designed to receive rainfall and treated water recovered from winery operations. The project was conceived in response to the substantial water demand of production: processing 1,000 litres of wine is calculated to consume approximately 300 litres of water. After purification, recovered water can be used to irrigate the estate’s crops.

Weather stations control irrigation autonomously and direct water toward crops with the greatest need. Botanical Dry Garden established the flower plantings and grassed areas, which require no summer irrigation. The agricultural plan encompasses vines and olives as well as future almond and pistachio plantings.

Production encompasses Morellino di Scansano DOCG in several interpretations and Maremma Toscana DOC wines made from varietal Ciliegiolo, Sangiovese and Vermentino, alongside blends of Sangiovese and French varieties. The cellar uses both stainless steel and oak for élevage.

Ciabatta is produced only in the best vintages. Its grapes are harvested and selected manually, making the volume highly variable. Across the range, the technical descriptions demonstrate the use of temperature-controlled fermentation, skin maceration, stainless-steel maturation and French or Slavonian oak, selected according to the intended wine.

Packaging forms part of the environmental programme. The estate uses lightweight bottles, recycled-cardboard cases and fully recyclable Nomacorc closures made from sugar-cane-derived polymers. Select Bio zero-carbon-footprint closures were adopted for Ciabatta beginning with the 2012 Morellino di Scansano vintage.