The Hills of Chianti
The Story of a Tuscan Winemaking Family, in Seven Bottles
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3.5 • 2 Ratings
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- $13.99
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
The head of Italy’s "first family" of winemaking reflects on the Antinoris’ six-hundred-year legacy and a life of good food and drink in the hills of Tuscany. If you know wine, you know the name Antinori. Since 1385, this noble Florentine family has produced some of Italy’s finest wines. The Hills of Chianti tells the story of the Antinoris and the Tuscany they call home, through seven iconic bottles that define their legacy. From the Tignanello that ushered in the era of Super Tuscans to limited-edition vintages, these wines embody a way of life and will excite oenophile readers and lovers of Italy alike. In this family memoir Piero Antinori reveals the passion, tradition, and love of craft that have driven twenty-seven generations of vintners: from the first ancestor who signed up to the winemakers guild in the fourteenth century to Antinori’s own three daughters, poised to carry this most celebrated family of artisans into the future. But The Hills of Chianti is about much more than wine. At its heart the Antinori story is about "Tuscan-ness": a connection to the land, an appreciation for good food and drink, and the quintessentially Italian love of hospitality that make this one of the world’s most inspiring and memorable destinations.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Prestigious Tuscan vintner Antinori's elucidating work on the consolidation and growth of an old Italian wine-making family serves as a promotion of his products across the world as well. Known especially for its Villa Antinoni Chianti Classico, the family company reinvented itself over the decades by continually embracing new vineyards, both in Italy and in California's Napa Valley, and by adapting to and incorporating new varietals, such as its Montenisa Brut Rose, Solaia, Tignanello, or Cervaro della Sala wines, to name a few. Having started in the family business as an "inspector," Antinori excelled at drumming up new business through travel and took the helm in 1966 (he is the 25th head of the Antinori family, which means they got started in the medieval era). He freely admits to some business mistakes he made over the years, such as when he discounted the ability of his three daughters, Albiera, Allegra, and Alessia, to take over the business in the mid-1980s and instead joined an eight-year partnership with the British corporation Samuel Whitbread. (Antinori resumed ownership of the ancestral Palazzo Antinori in Florence, and now seems to be ceding the reins of the company to his talented daughters gradually.) The author's well-founded experience in expanding the global market for Italian wines, as well as his genuine passion for his work and deep knowledge of the Italian terroir, informs this useful perspective for entrepreneurial readers.
