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Banfi Vintners has ranked as the U.S.A.'s leading wine importer for more than three decades. It is an arm of the privately held Banfi Products Corp., a family-owned and operated firm founded in New York in 1919 by John Mariani, Sr. He named it for an aunt, Teodolinda Banfi, a woman of eclectic tastes who supervised his early education and greatly influenced his views toward fine wines.
Banfi Vintners is the exclusive importer of three of the current top ten imported wines:
• Concha y Toro of Chile at #1, which Banfi built from 90,000 cases when it acquired import rights to the brand in 1988 to today's sales of over 2 million cases. Concha y Toro has become Chile's leading ambassador in the international wine market, with premium offerings from its twelve vineyards spread throughout the country's four main wine valleys (Maipo, Maule, Rapel and Casablanca).
• Riunite of Italy at #2, held the lead position for over 24 years to become a phenomenon on the U.S. market. Founded in the 1950s by a handful of grape farmers in Italy's Emilia Romagna region, Cantine Riunite struck on the style of wine that Americans fell in love with.
• Walnut Crest of Chile at #8, a brand created by Banfi and produced by Bodegas y Viñedos Santa Emiliana from their 3,500 acres of vineyards in Chile's best regions. Walnut Crest has become a hallmark for quality and value. |
No stranger to consumer taste and demand, the Mariani family envisioned a trend toward premium quality and clean style wines well over 15 years before current fashion has put the production of most better wineries on strict allocation. Wanting to ensure total quality control from the ground up, Banfi invested in the future, and their importers portfolio is today strengthened by their own brands:
• Castello Banfi of Montalcino, Tuscany, in Italy - Starting in 1978, native and international grape varieties were planted on fertile tracts of land in choice areas to develop a "constellation of single vineyards" that make up one third of a 7,100-acre estate just outside of Montalcino. At the epicenter of the vineyards Banfi built a winery that combines state-of-the-art equipment with traditional aging cellars to preserve the freshness and natural flavors of the fruit while allowing the wines to develop their full character in an appropriate atmosphere.
• Vigne Regali Piemonte of Strevi, Piedmont, in Italy - Banfi purchased the former Bruzzone winery in 1979 and revitalized it, returning it to its former glory as a producer of premium sparkling wines.
• Principessa Gavia of Gavi, Piedmont in Italy - a single vineyard estate dedicated to one grape, Cortese di Gavi, and one wine, Principessa Gavia. |
These offerings are complimented by selections from producers who share their dedication to quality wine production:
• Stonehaven Vineyards of Australia's South Australia region - an exciting new winery in the Limestone Coast district, world renown for its unique terroir and microclimate.
• Cecchi of Chianti, Tuscany in Italy - for more than a century, five generations of the Cecchi family have earned a sterling reputation as wine producers in Tuscany's fabled Chianti region.
• Sartori of Verona, Veneto in Italy - in its fourth generation of business spanning over a century, the Sartori family has helped the Veneto region achieve a reputation for excellence throughout the world.
• Borgogno of Barolo, Piedmont in Italy - one of Barolo's most historic and noblest producers, the Borgogno winery has been an integral part of this important region since its founding in 1761.
• TriVento of Argentina - Viña Patagonia began producing quality wines from Mendoza, Argentina in 1996. Patagonia's parent company, Concha y Toro S.A. of Chile, invested in the famous Maipú and Tupungato growing regions of Argentina in order to focus on the great demand of Argentine wines in the International market.
• Florio Marsala of Sicily in Italy - a prestigious and historic producer of fine Marsala, a fortified, cask-aged wine that is traditional to Italian culture.
• Wisdom & Warter of Jerez in Spain - a well respected house of Sherry, a noble and sophisticated sipping wine that has become an international classic. |
A 60-room Elizabethan manor house, located on a 127-acre estate in Old Brookville, New York, serves as Banfi's world headquarters. It was originally built for an English knight and once was the home of socialite Margaret Emerson, widow of Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt. The estate includes a 55-acre vineyard, the only such venture in Long Island's Nassau County and the closest vineyard to New York City, where the grapes for Old Brookville Chardonnay are grown. |
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