ALLEGRA ANTINORI

Bio

Co-owner and winemaker of Marchesi Antinori— one of the oldest organizations on the planet

Along with two other siblings, she helms a company that can trace its history back to the 14th century.

It became apparent that a female triumvirate could end up helming Tuscan wine family Marchesi Antinori, for the first time in its 600year history, back in 1979. In the autumn of that year, three sisters—Albiera, Allegra and Alessia— made a batch of wine for the family to enjoy at Christmas.

To say that the trio were immersed in viticulture from a young age would be an understatement. “I grew up surrounded by people who talked about wine all the time,” Antinori says, “and experiencing nature and the Tuscan countryside firsthand. Spending my summer days strolling in the vineyards made me understand agriculture— its seasonal rhythms, its long-term vision that farmers typically have. So wine has always been part of my DNA. There was no catalyst moment— to help my father with his mission was a natu- ral decision and over time has become my life.”

The 10th-oldest family-owned company in the world—26 generations have now played a part in its narrative—is one that played a leading role in the “Super Tuscan” revolution of the 1970s that saw wine lovers around the world develop an affection for wine made from French grapes with Italian terroir. Now overseeing vineyards in the Napa Valley and Chile, Marchesi Antinori—a pioneer in the development of the Sangiovese grape variety that lies at the core of Italian winemaking—approaches the craft with “a long-term vision built around the utmost respect to the land, the territory, tradition and heritage,” as Antinori puts it to Private World. “All these values result in an agricultural approach and the respect for the environment.”

When it comes to living life to the fullest, Antinori is emphatic. “Fine living to me is authenticity,” she says. “To be able to live authentic experiences, true ones without any unnecessary frills. Authentic yet very simple experiences that are realized in an intimate and elegant context. To me, living well has nothing to do with opulence and should never be about visibility. Quite the opposite: It should be an intimate and true experience and one of the highest possible quality.”

Antinori and her sisters are custodians of an approach to winemaking, influenced by their father’s introduction of new varieties to the Tuscan soil (notably Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc), which resulted from his visits to the wine regions of California.

Located along the Tyrrhenian coast, Tuscany is a wine region as deserving of recognition as Burgundy is. These three siblings are gatekeepers of the region’s deserved reputation as a global force in viticulture.