Banfi

Foundation and the first vineyards

Banfi was founded in 1978 by the Italian-American brothers John and Harry Mariani. That year they purchased their first land in Montalcino and planted the first Sangiovese vines. The project was developed with the collaboration of the oenologist Ezio Rivella, who helped transform the acquired land into a large viticultural estate founded on research, technical innovation and the potential of Montalcino.

In 1979, the family also established its separate Piedmont operation between Novi Ligure and Acqui Terme through the acquisition of the historic Bruzzone winery. That operation developed as Banfi Piemonte and remains distinct from the Montalcino estate.

Zoning, clonal selection and the castle

Estate zoning began in 1980. The work examined the relationship between genotype and environment so that each grape variety could be planted in the part of the estate best suited to it. It ultimately distinguished 29 soil types or terroirs and more than 100 microclimates, enabling plots—and at times individual rows—to be managed according to their characteristics.

A Sangiovese clonal-selection programme followed in 1982. Its purpose was to identify material adapted both to the estate’s pedoclimatic conditions and to different oenological objectives. The programme ultimately produced 11 registered Sangiovese clones. The first vineyards planted with material selected through this work date from 1992; the first resulting vintage was 1997.

In 1983 the Mariani family acquired Castello di Poggio alle Mura. The castle had suffered damage during the Second World War and was in precarious condition. Extensive restoration returned the complex to use and made it the centre of Banfi’s hospitality development.

The Montalcino winery and cultural institutions

The purpose-built Montalcino winery was inaugurated on 12 September 1984. It was conceived to preserve the integrity and richness of the incoming grapes and was equipped from the outset with advanced technology and a biological water-treatment plant. At the inauguration, John F. Mariani framed the project as one intended to benefit Montalcino, Italy, America and lovers of fine wine.

Fondazione Banfi was established in Montalcino on 2 May 1986 to promote, develop and disseminate wine culture and knowledge of viticulture and oenology in Italy and internationally.

New pruning methods were introduced in 1992 to improve the quality of selected varieties. In 1997 L’Enoteca opened at the castle. Jazz & Wine in Montalcino began in 1998 through cooperation between Banfi, the Rubei family of Rome’s Alexanderplatz Jazz Club and the Municipality of Montalcino. The festival combined wine, music and the cultural promotion of the local community.

Vineyard systems, certifications and hospitality

Banfi obtained ISO 9001 quality-management and ISO 14001 environmental-management certification in 2001. In 2002 it introduced Alberello Banfi, an original training system developed for difficult soils and low-input cultivation. The system was designed to improve the management and quality of red varieties while reducing water, fertiliser, agrochemical and labour requirements. La Sala dei Grappoli and La Taverna also opened in 2002, expanding hospitality around the castle.

SA8000 social-responsibility certification followed in 2005. BRC and IFS food-quality and safety certifications were obtained in 2006.

Horizon and resource efficiency

In 2007 Banfi inaugurated Horizon, a dedicated vinification area containing 24 proprietary 177-hl oak-and-steel fermenters. The system was developed with Gamba for its wooden component and Di Zio for its steel component. It brought together controlled steel technology and the micro-oxygenation associated with oak, while enabling gravity-assisted racking and precise management of alcoholic fermentation, maceration and malolactic fermentation. The opening of Hotel Il Borgo in the same year completed the principal hospitality complex after L’Enoteca, La Sala dei Grappoli and La Taverna.

A complete Pliocene whale skeleton was discovered in 2007 beside the road to Castello di Poggio alle Mura, providing physical evidence of the estate’s ancient marine environment.

In 2008 Banfi introduced variable-rate micro-irrigation, adjusting water delivery to the slope and properties of individual soils. BIO BED was also developed with the University of Pisa to eliminate oily residues from agricultural treatments in water used to wash farm vehicles.

Lightweight bottles were introduced in 2009: the standard Bordeaux bottle was reduced from 570 g to 400 g, lowering energy use and transport-related emissions.

An experimental study undertaken in 2012 examined relationships between berry characteristics, ripening and the pronounced pedological variability of the cultivated plots.

Sustainability, education and later development

The first Sustainability Report was prepared in 2015, beginning annual structured reporting on environmental stewardship, people, the territory and the local community. In 2016 Banfi launched a water-reuse project and modified its purification system to reduce chemicals used for water softening and decrease groundwater withdrawal.

In 2017 Banfi obtained OHSAS 18001 occupational-health-and-safety certification. Fondazione Banfi also founded Sanguis Jovis – Alta Scuola del Sangiovese, creating a permanent centre devoted to advanced education, scientific research and the communication of knowledge about Sangiovese. In the same year, an experimental-vineyard programme began with CREA and Fondazione Edmund Mach to assess new genotypes with strong quality potential or reduced susceptibility to major fungal diseases.

Banfi celebrated its fortieth anniversary in 2018. By then Cristina Mariani-May, representing the third generation, coordinated the family company’s activities.

A new ultrafiltration and reverse-osmosis water-recovery plant entered operation in 2019. Treated winery water could thereafter be reused for technological purposes and for irrigating parks and gardens. Castello Banfi also joined Relais & Châteaux. Honey production began through the placement of 80 beehives in selected parts of the estate.

La Sala dei Grappoli received its first Michelin Star in 2020. Banfi Società Agricola Srl obtained Equalitas Sustainable Organization certification in 2021. Equalitas product certification was extended to four major wines in 2022, with Poggio all’Oro 2016 becoming the first Brunello di Montalcino to achieve it.

In 2023 Banfi improved its Cerved ESG rating into the high-performance band and signed the Urbino Charter for worker health, safety and well-being. A revised governance model strengthened coordination between the company’s Italian and American sides and created an Executive Committee for medium- and long-term strategy.

In 2024 Banfi Società Agricola Srl obtained ISO 45001 occupational-health-and-safety certification. The governance structure was further redefined, the ESG Committee was strengthened with academic participation and the sustainability strategy was aligned more closely with evolving European standards.

During 2025 the new organizational structure was consolidated, key roles were redefined and a business plan extending to 2030 was developed. Equalitas certification was renewed for the Brunello family, and Castello Banfi Brunello di Montalcino 2021 entered the certified range for the first time.

Location and landscape

The Montalcino estate occupies 2,830 ha on the south-western side of the municipality, around Castello di Poggio alle Mura and between the Orcia and Ombrone river systems. Its morphology is highly complex: cultivated land, woodland and Mediterranean scrub occur across elevations from approximately 80–100 m to 330 m above sea level.

Zoning divided the estate into 29 soil types or terroirs, while more than 100 microclimates are managed through plot- and sometimes row-level precision. Light, breezes, altitude, slope and soil differences can distinguish one vineyard from its neighbour.

Four principal soil landscapes

The estate’s soil research distinguished four broad environments:

• Flat to gently sloping areas: mainly fluvial geological formations, with deep, well-developed and pedologically preserved soils.
• Predominantly hilly areas: moderately inclined, rectilinear or slightly convex slopes; moderately deep, developed soils with abundant stones and pebbles and occasional outcrops of lean sand.
• Hilly terraces and slopes: lean, moderately deep to shallow soils with more clay, fewer stones, gray-blue clay lenses and sandy layers.
• Modified hills: land altered by earlier cultivation, often with abundant stones and visible surface erosion on steeper slopes; soils range from moderately deep to shallow.

The slopes identified as particularly suitable for Sangiovese include reddish continental clay sediments with a pronounced presence of stones and pebbles. Other estate soils derive from Pliocene marine clay-sands, including deep soils rich in calcareous stones, and moderately deep gray-blue clays with a greater tendency to retain moisture. Higher elevations contain sediments deposited in a deep marine environment. The complete Pliocene whale skeleton found in 2007 near the castle road is a striking record of that geological past.

Climate

The estate has a warm-temperate environment. Long-term monitoring recorded an average temperature of 19.5°C between April and September. Average minimum temperatures are below 5°C from December through March but rarely fall below 0°C; from May through September, minimums generally range from 10°C to 18°C. Average maximums range from 10°C to 15°C between November and March, exceed 25°C from May and can reach 35–37°C in August.

Weather stations monitor minimum and maximum air temperature, rainfall, evapotranspiration, sunshine duration, wind, leaf wetness and air and soil humidity. The territory is exposed to erosion because of its relief, soil geology and strongly seasonal rainfall. Forests and Mediterranean scrub moderate the landscape, protect habitats and act as natural barriers against soil erosion.

Zoning and plant material

Zoning began in 1980 and defined homogeneous vocational units according to vegetative behaviour, production and fruit quality. It guides the placement of varieties and the management of the estate’s microenvironments. Sangiovese clonal selection began in 1982 and resulted in 11 registered clones adapted to different pedoclimatic and oenological requirements. The first vines from that work were planted in 1992.

Training, nutrition and water

Traditional spurred cordon is used alongside Casarsa and Alberello Banfi. Casarsa was introduced to rationalize mechanization and improve harvest quality. Alberello Banfi was subsequently developed for difficult soils and low-input cultivation. It reduces technical inputs and labour, has shown a lower incidence of wood diseases, maintains relatively regular production in difficult years and positions fruit on substantial shoots.

Soil analysis precedes new plantings and can inform several years of preparatory agronomic work. Fertilisation is tailored to soil type, variety, the previous year’s yield and both quantitative and qualitative production objectives. Petiole analysis is performed at the basal leaf node opposite the bunch during early fruit set; at least 25% of the vineyards were checked annually through this programme, allowing nutritional trends to be identified and fertilisation plans corrected.

Water stress is monitored in the soil with different probes and in the vines with stomatal chambers and thermal imaging. Variable-rate micro-irrigation, introduced in 2008, adjusts delivery to slope, texture, stone content, soil depth and root-zone availability. The estate’s linked rainwater reservoirs and artificial basins have an aggregate capacity of approximately 655,500 m³, reducing dependence on direct extraction from the Orcia and Ombrone rivers in dry years.

Plant protection

The vineyards follow a low-impact programme based on monitoring rather than routine preventive treatment. Less aggressive active substances are used, with scouting, product-dose controls, historical harvest data and zoning information informing each decision. Twelve electronic weather stations—eight in Montalcino and four in other Banfi territories—feed real-time data into disease-forecasting models. These models support decisions concerning fungal risks such as downy and powdery mildew.

The experimental-fields programme with CREA and Fondazione Edmund Mach evaluates promising crossed or selected genotypes for phytosanitary, agronomic and oenological performance, particularly reduced sensitivity to major fungal diseases. The two original sites contained 25 genotypes: 17 red, seven white and one gray. Their management was designed to reduce pesticide use substantially.

Biodiversity and circular practices

The estate includes an 842-ha agri-wildlife reserve managed under regional rules through selective population control, capture and relocation where necessary. Forests, Mediterranean scrub and mixed cropping support numerous plant species and a diverse fauna. Eighty beehives protect pollinators and have supported honey production since 2019. Two Amiata donkeys are maintained solely to help preserve the local breed under animal-welfare conditions.

Biodiversity Friend® assessments conducted in April 2023 examined the biological quality of soil, water and air and confirmed the effectiveness of the conservation approach. BIO BED, developed with the University of Pisa, prevents oily agricultural-treatment residues in vehicle-wash water. In 2025 more than 240 t of treated winery sludge, equivalent to almost 62 t of dry matter, was used as a controlled natural soil conditioner and incorporated into vineyard soils.

Winery and fruit handling

The Montalcino winery opened in 1984 and was designed to protect the integrity and richness of the fruit. Grapes from different vineyards can be processed separately, and their maturation lots are also kept separate, allowing each site’s character to be evaluated before blending.

Two internal analytical laboratories follow production from grapes through finished wine. BRC and IFS systems cover food quality and safety, while ISO 9001 and the estate’s integrated analysis programme support process control.

Horizon fermenters

The Horizon area contains 24 proprietary 177-hl fermenters installed in 2007. Each combines an upward-facing conical steel base, an oak truncated-cone body associated with a steel cylinder and heating jacket, and a steel upper cap with a cooling jacket. Seeds collect on the sloping steel base and can be removed when required.

Each fermenter stands over a dedicated steel receiving tank. Wine can be racked downward without transfer pumps, limiting oxidative stress. The lower tank can also hold must for oxygenation or for cooling and heating through a heat exchanger before pumping over or délestage.

The oak permits controlled passage of small quantities of oxygen, supporting the evolution of anthocyanins, colour and texture. Separate heating and cooling zones allow control of must, cap and solids during alcoholic fermentation, post-fermentation maceration, malolactic fermentation and early ageing. Must may be circulated beneath the cap at the start of fermentation to stimulate yeast without extracting prematurely from skins, or over the cap for conventional pumping-over. Comparative trials found that the system improved the expression of colour and aroma in Sangiovese.

For the Brunello family, fermentation is conducted at controlled temperature in French-oak-and-stainless-steel Horizon vats. Ageing uses 60- and 90-hl French oak casks and 350-litre French oak barriques. The current general approach favours large casks so that wood supports rather than masks Sangiovese.

Filtration, by-products and water

Dynamic Cross Flow filtration uses multiple layers of rotating ceramic discs to process lees generated by must and white-wine clarification and by red-wine racking after malolactic fermentation. Filtration takes place with protection from air and dilution, recovering wine of the required quality while reducing waste and sharply limiting the need for abrasive perlite.

Stems, pomace and lees are sent to distilleries for the production of grappa, alcohol, liqueurs and spirits; exhausted pomace can subsequently be used to generate energy.

Water used for cleaning winery spaces, machinery, pipes, tanks, casks and barriques comes from three estate wells. After purification it enters the winery, and all wastewater is directed to the treatment plant. Treated water is either returned to the Orcia or passes through ultrafiltration and reverse osmosis for reuse in winery technology and the irrigation of parks and gardens. In 2025, 12.2 ML of treated water was recovered for technological and irrigation uses.

Vision and mission

Banfi’s vision is of a globally connected world in which differences are a form of wealth and products of the land express human work and ingenuity. Its mission is to remain pioneering, value research and people, and respect the territories in which it operates.

Four declared values organize this approach:

• Pioneering: opening new paths while respecting local history and the people who live in each territory.
• Research: studying, experimenting and innovating from soil and vineyard through winery and market.
• Sharing: treating education and knowledge as valuable when they become a common legacy.
• Respect: working in harmony with the environment, communities and employees to build a better future.

Research as a production principle

Terroir is treated as a foundation rather than a complete answer. Zoning, clonal selection, precision viticulture and purpose-designed cellar technology are used together to interpret differences in soil, climate and plant material. Research must result in practical improvements that fit their environment, conserve resources and support elegant, balanced wines.

The Horizon philosophy links the vineyard and winery: selected fruit is protected through detailed handling, site-specific vinification and equipment designed around its physical and oenological needs. Comparative experimentation is used to refine decisions rather than impose a fixed formula.

For Sangiovese ageing, the guiding idea is that wood should accompany the wine rather than cover it. Large casks remain central because they preserve varietal identity and the character of Montalcino.

Sustainability is understood across environmental, social and economic dimensions. The estate’s stated objective is not only to limit impacts but to pass the territory to future generations in a healthy, intact and liveable condition.