Piero Antinori: The Interview with Marvin R. Shanken

The Italian wine visionary sat down with Wine Spectator’s editor and publisher to chat about 50-plus years of wine history in Tuscany and beyond

From the Apr 30, 2025, issue

Since assuming control of his family’s wine business in 1966, Marchese Piero Antinori has built a vast wine empire, centered on Tuscany in central Italy and spanning the globe to California, Washington state and Chile.
In half a century, the Tuscan aristocrat and 25th generation of the Antinori family dynasty has converted a wine merchant business to a company controlling more than 7,000 acres of vineyards. Along the way, he was one of a small group to revolutionize the face of Tuscan and Italian wine overall, shifting the focus from quantity to quality. In 2000, Antinori’s Toscana Solaia 1997 became the first Italian wine to earn Wine Spectator’s Wine of the Year honor.
In 1981, Antinori was forced to take on a partner, U.K.–based Whitbread, yet a decade later, shrewdly regained 100 percent of the company. Thus began a path of vineyard acquisitions that strengthened the Antinori wine business, allowing it to develop into the multinational producer it is today.
Renzo Cotarella, Piero Antinori’s longtime partner and Antinori’s current CEO, has been by the producer’s side for much of the journey, handling operations while Piero attended to the business and commercial aspects. Piero’s three daughters—Albiera, Allegra and Alessia—all work alongside him in various roles, with the eldest, Albiera, as president.

Marvin R. Shanken: Last night, I was scratching my head trying to figure out where and when we first met. It’s very obscure, but I think I know the answer. I don’t want to preempt you. Do you have any recollection of how long ago we met, and where?
Marchese Piero Antinori: I remember it very well, Marvin. It was almost half a century ago—47 years ago, to be precise, in 1977. Julius Wile, which was our United States importer at the time, celebrated their centennial in New York City, and they invited all their suppliers from France and other parts of the world, as well as their U.S. distributors, for a two- or three-day event. The highlight was a speech by a brilliant young economist who described the future of wine in the U.S. The name of that brilliant economist was Marvin Shanken.
Shanken: Well, I’m hardly an economist! I’m pleasantly surprised. The buildup is more than I deserved, because I was just starting out. I remembered that it was Julius Wile, but then I Googled the company and couldn’t find anything about it. I remember the chairman’s name was Richard Blum Jr., a very classy man.
There were several days of seminars, and I spoke about the future of wine in America, and I only had Impact Newsletter in those days—it was before Wine Spectator and everything else. Somehow, afterward, you and I met and started to talk.
Antinori: It was October of 1977. I remember that we talked about California wines, and you took me to see Peter Morrell, who specialized in California wines. There was Sherry-Lehmann, who specialized in French wines. Lou Iacucci, who specialized in Italian wines. And Peter Morrell at that time was more specialized in California.
We went there together, and I was really exposed for the first time to good California wines. I was impressed. And then there’s a long story afterward.
Shanken: I can’t even believe you’re bringing these things up. Sherry-Lehmann was a legendary retailer in New York. When I would go there, I would always complain that they didn’t have any California wines. They had none—nothing on the shelf! Maybe Almaden, a jug wine.
Lou Iacucci was one of the great human beings, and a wonderful promoter of Italian wines. He died not that many years ago. Morrell didn’t have a lot of Italian wines, but he had some. It was no different than if you went to a restaurant in NYC at that time—no one had California wines on the list. They just didn’t come east in the ’70s, and really into the ’80s. That didn’t really start until the ’90s.
Antinori: That was ’77. Then in ’79, two years later, you bought Wine Spectator. In ’81 there was the first edition of the Wine Experience. So it has been a sequence of facts that have revolutionized the U.S. wine market.
Shanken: When we did our first Wine Experiences, things that I took for granted I learned were not true. When Bordeaux producers came, they didn’t even know each other, let alone the producers from Burgundy. They certainly didn’t know the ones from California. They were all secluded in their own little worlds. One of the things the Wine Experience did was allow producers, winemakers and owners from one region to meet their peers from their own region, as well as to jump over and meet people from all over the world.
Antinori: It created a wonderful wine community internationally.
Shanken: You’ve been going to the Wine Experience since the very beginning.
Antinori: I have a photo of the group of producers from that first one.
Shanken: When you get back, take a picture—we’ll have to see who was there. Since it was so long ago, most of them, I’m sure, aren’t here anymore. And we’re just hanging on by our nails.
Antinori: I hope I’ll recognize myself.
Shanken: I have so much to ask you. You’ve accomplished so much, and we write about your wines all the time. Today’s not so much about your wines: It’s really about you and your life. You may think we know, but we really don’t know.
Tell me what it was like growing up in Florence. About your father, your grandfather, the family business. What you did in junior high school and high school. What were your dreams? Did you want to be an airplane pilot, a doctor? Were you told on day one that your destiny was wine? Tell me that side of your life.
Antinori: I was born in Florence. I grew up in Florence. I never met my grandparents because they passed away before I was born. My father’s father, who was called Piero Antinori, like me, was one of the members of the family, together with his older brother, Lodovico. They were instrumental in developing the company. Both passed away before I was born.
I was very lucky to have a father with whom I was always very close. He was my first master and mentor. He followed me during all the periods of my youth, and I must say that he was a great teacher for me.
Shanken: How long ago did he pass away?
Antinori: He passed away when he was 94 years old, in 1992.
He was born in 1898. He retired quite early. We used to have a general manager—I’m talking about the end of the 1960s—and this manager made a big mistake. He almost lost a full year’s production, and he put the company at risk by doing that. So he was invited to leave the company in 1966. I was only 28 years old, and unexpectedly my father came to see me, and he told me, “Now it’s your turn.”
I was a bit amazed because at 28—I didn’t expect to all of a sudden become responsible for the company.
Shanken: What about before that? Tell me about your schooling.
Antinori: I went to a private school in Florence, and then to university there, where I studied business administration. At that time, everybody of my age used to study agriculture, but instead my father preferred and insisted that I focus on business.
Shanken: You’re growing up, you’re playing sports, you’re dating, you’re the typical kid growing up. Your family business is wine. Were you interested in wine as a teenager? Did you know it was your destiny, that it was something your name was on? Was there some other direction you wanted to go? What was going on in your mind?
Antinori: I was really interested in the wine business from the time I was very young. I spent most of my time in the country near the vineyards, and I worked in the winery as a kid. Already, my passion was the wine business. And my passion was wine. I started to drink a little bit of wine when I was very young.
Shanken: What were you doing the day before your dad told you that you would be managing the company?
Antinori: I was already part of the company, which I joined immediately after university. I was involved in various aspects.
Shanken: In the production side or the business side?
Antinori: Mostly in business and sales. At that time, the real problem for a company like ours was not production, but sales. Now it’s totally different.
Shanken: It’s 1966. Your father comes to you. You’re now in charge. Describe to me what the family wine business was like then.
Antinori: It was a small business in a very difficult period. At the end of the 1960s, the wine business in Tuscany—and not only in Tuscany—was struggling. The quality was going down, especially of Chianti and Tuscan wine. Prices were going down as well. All the wine producers were suffering, and when my father gave me the responsibility, I found a company that was a bit weak. I had to invent something—to innovate somehow—in order to survive.
Shanken: Take me there. You’re sitting down having dinner with your father? Your father walks in where you’re working? Paint me the picture of where you were and how he said to you, “It’s your time.”
Antinori: My father told me a very simple thing when he appointed me.
Shanken: But where were you, how did you find out?
Antinori: I found out because my father asked me to join him in his office. He said, “Well, now we don’t have a manager, and the company needs someone who is able to manage, run and develop it.” He said, “I trust you. Any decision that you make, I approve. If you need advice, I’m here, but it’s your responsibility. You do what you think is best for the company.” These are the words of my father that I will never forget. I was shocked.
Shanken: To say that I approve, do whatever you have to do—that’s tremendous trust.
Antinori: One day I asked my father, “But why did you make the decision to appoint me when I was 28 years old?” He told me a story that I think is half serious and half joking. He said that when I was 15 or 16 years old, he asked me to join him for a tasting of wines. In the tasting there were some of our wines, some competitors, and also a Bordeaux wine. It was Château Lafite Rothschild. I tasted the wines, and when I tasted the Lafite, I was really impressed by the quality, which was much better than our wine.
At the end, my father asked me, “Do you think that one day you’ll be able to produce a wine this good?” According to my father, I said, “As good as this, I don’t know. But why not better?”
And my father said, “When you gave me that answer, I thought you could be responsible for the company one day.”
Shanken: Did you have any idea that your father thought so well of you? What was your reaction upon now having all this responsibility?
Antinori: My reaction was mixed. I thought I was privileged. On the other hand, to have that type of responsibility, at that age—when, normally, one wants to enjoy life and do other things—that was also quite something. My father’s colleagues were a bit skeptical. They always thought that having leadership that didn’t have much experience could really be the end of the company.
Shanken: How long did it take you to develop a strategy to build the family wine company into something that put a higher priority on quality? Aside from all the normal aspects of business and finance and so forth. I assume the Antinori of that time produced mainly inexpensive jug wines and Chianti in a world of inexpensive Italian wines. Italy at that time was not exactly Burgundy—you had Bordeaux and the Napa Valley going against you. What kind of strategy did you have in the early years to survive and hopefully one day thrive?
Antinori: The first thing I did with our winemaker at the time, Giacomo Tachis, was to travel and see the areas where there was already a clear, successful strategy for quality. The first area we visited was Bordeaux. I must say that I was fortunate enough to meet in Bordeaux a great person, professor Émile Peynaud.
Shanken: A legend.
Antinori: A legend. We became friends, and he became our consultant. He had a great influence on me, and on our winemaker at that time. He helped us to discover a new world in Tuscany. He realized that we had the potential to produce great wines, which was not the case until then. He was the kind of man I don’t encounter anymore—I’ve never met another person like him. He was a scientist, a university professor and a researcher, but he was also a practical winemaker. He was consulting for the great châteaus of Bordeaux. He had another great characteristic, which was that he was madly in love with wine as a product. It’s not easy to find these three elements in one person.
He influenced us and taught us many things that we could do in order to stop the negative trend in quality and price. It was with his help that we developed a wine like Tignanello, which has become a milestone and a turning point in the history of Antinori.
Shanken: The whole concept behind super Tuscans didn’t exist before. Did the super Tuscan idea come before Tignanello? Did Tignanello come before super Tuscan? And did you see that as the roadmap to success?
Antinori: Tignanello was the first Tuscan wine to prove that we could produce high quality wine in Tuscany not necessarily following the regulation of the DOC. In fact, Tignanello was produced in such a way that we couldn’t call it Chianti Classico or any other appellation, because it didn’t follow the rules of the DOC.
When we released Tignanello in 1974—this year we’re celebrating 50 years since the first vintage, 1971, was released—it was a bit controversial, because it had the lowest classification (vino da tavola) and the highest price.
Shanken: What was the price?
Antinori: In those days, the retail price of Tignanello in the U.S. was approximately $6.
Shanken: Unbelievable. When did you start exporting Tignanello to the U.S.?
Antinori: In the mid-1970s, with Julius Wile, one of the oldest wine import companies in America, founded in 1877.
Shanken: I don’t even remember them going under! They had a great portfolio of European wines. It wasn’t eight wines—it was eight great wines. Do you remember who the other suppliers were?
Antinori: Bollinger Champagne, Bordeaux wines from Prats—Château Cos-d’Estournel and others—the very good Burgundy house Domaine Chanson, wine from southern France—Château Sainte Roseline, one of the first rosés. Then there were also spirits, like Bénédictine, as well as dry sack Sherry and some whisky.
Shanken: What happened with your relationship?
Antinori: At a certain moment, Richard Blum sold to a huge food company in the U.S. Then, there was another change of ownership and it went to a British company called Whitbread, with whom we had been associated for some time, and they merged Julius Wile with another company, called the Buckingham Corporation. That became Buckingham Wile.
Shanken: Ah, right! They had Mouton, Cutty Sark.
Antinori: It was a big company.
Shanken: I want to talk about the Whitbread piece. It lingers in my memory, but it’s very confusing to me, and I’ve heard different stories. And right now, from you, I’m hearing the truth. The word was that your family sold half the company to Whitbread, but you maintained majority control. Is that true?
Antinori: Yes. At the beginning of the 1980s, I faced a couple of problems. One was that I had to buy out my brother and sister, who were partners in our company, but my sister wasn’t interested. My brother, Lodovico, wanted to start on his own.
But that wasn’t the only reason. I have three daughters and they were quite young, and they never thought they could be interested in the company one day. At that time, girls were not supposed to be managing a company. In order to be able to buy back the rest of the company and to guarantee continuity—because I didn’t see it in the family at that time—I thought it could be a good idea to take on a partner. The company was already involved in distributing wines in the U.S. and England. They were diversified and at that time they were very serious about the wine business.
Shanken: Your brother and sister sold all their positions, and you maintained 51 percent?
Antinori: The company was divided in two. One part, where I held the majority, was used to control the vineyards, the winery, the inventory, the trademarks. Then there was an Antinori Distribuzione, the commercial part, where Whitbread had a majority. It was a kind of mixed shareholding.
Shanken: I’ve always heard that Antinori goes back 25 generations, 600 years. To me, that means that every generation has the obligation to hand it over to the next generation. When it was announced that you were selling, it seemed extraordinary, because it’s changing history for one of the truly great families in the wine business with extraordinary longevity. And it’s over, or it will be over. Was that not something that troubled you before you made the decision?
Antinori: Yes and no. Yes, for the reason you just said. No, because when I did it, I always had in mind to be able, one day, to buy back the whole thing—which happened after eight or nine years. So our association with Whitbread was relatively short.
Shanken: What happened with Whitbread that caused them to decide to sell?
Antinori: Only the fact that after a certain period of time, less than 10 years, they decided as a strategy to get out of the wine and spirits business. They sold everything to another British company, called Allied Domecq. That was when I was able to buy it back.
Shanken: Did you buy it directly from Whitbread or from Allied Domecq?
Antinori: From Whitbread. Even if Allied Domecq very much wanted to buy the shares in Antinori from Whitbread, and it was very difficult.
Shanken: Tell me about Solaia.
Antinori: This wine we’re drinking now is the ’97 vintage, which for me is a very important vintage. It was the first Italian wine to be named Wine of the Year by Wine Spectator, in the year 2000. That was another turning point, especially in the U.S. The turn of the century was a very important period for me and for the company. In 1999, I got the Distinguished Service Award from Wine Spectator. The following year, Solaia was named Wine of the Year.
But also, the end of that century was the year when I completed my full repayment of the debt that I had to take on to buy back from Whitbread. For me it was a very important moment, and also the beginning of a new era, the new century, when we were able to do all the major investments and acquisitions that we have done.
Shanken: The reason I’m puzzling this in is that you told the story about your father doing the wine tasting with Lafite. While you were saying that, I was sipping this wine. Now, I’m not going to say it’s better than Lafite—I don’t know what the vintage was, and I wasn’t there—but I will tell you it’s every bit as good. 1997, that’s over 25 years ago. Taste your wine. Taste it right now and tell me what you think of it.
Antinori: You know, when I said that to my father, I think I had a dream, when I was 15 or 16.
Shanken: Taste the wine, taste the wine! Tell me what you’re tasting after you take a sip.
Antinori: In my opinion, this is a wine that has the characteristics to be a great wine. First of all, personality. This is a wine that is not a Bordeaux, although it’s based on Cabernet Sauvignon. It has its own personality. It gives pleasure on the palate, but for me, it also gives an intellectual pleasure.
Shanken: If there are any Wine Spectator readers who happen to have a bottle of the 1997, I want to say to them: Open it and have it tonight. It is really so well-balanced, the fruit is alive, it’s absolutely delicious.
Antinori: Another characteristic of a great wine is aging potential. This wine is old, but it’s still alive, and it has a certain freshness.
Shanken: Where were you when you heard that Solaia 1997 was named Wine of the Year? Who told you?
Antinori: That’s a difficult question. I remember very well that I was very shocked and impressed, because I didn’t expect it. I think I saw it in the magazine.
Shanken: Somebody had to have called you before.
Antinori: Probably, but I can’t remember.
Shanken: I want to step back a bit to Lodovico. How was your relationship with your brother?
Antinori: My relationship with my brother has always been, from a personal viewpoint, very good. The only thing is that in business it has been a difficult relationship, also for him. To accept the fact that I was the boss was not easy.
Shanken: Were you the older brother?
Antinori: Yes, five years older. When my father appointed me, Lodovico was really very young, 23 years old. I think the solution that we found was the right solution. He’s been very successful in his endeavors.
Shanken: You know where I’m going. He had Ornellaia and Masseto, and he ended up selling to Mondavi. Did he first offer them to you? And if he didn’t, he must’ve broken your heart.
Antinori: We had some talks about that, but then he decided that selling to Mondavi was the best solution. Not only in terms of money, but also other things. However, after three or four months, he regretted it, and here’s a funny story I’ll tell you. Knowing that I was a very good friend of Bob Mondavi’s, Lodovico asked me to meet with Bob and ask if he would be prepared to resell Ornellaia to him. And eventually, to me together.
Obviously, I knew very well that it was impossible. But I came to New York and met Bob. I invited Bob Mondavi for dinner in a restaurant to talk about what was a very difficult subject. The restaurant was new, and it was very noisy, full of young people, very difficult to talk. Bob had forgotten his hearing aids at his hotel, so the conversation, as you can imagine, was very difficult. But in any case, with no result.
Shanken: And then eventually, it goes into the hands of Frescobaldi—obviously one of your competitors—and now they have Ornellaia and Masseto, which historically were part of the Antinori family. I’m sure Lamberto [Frescobaldi] is very proud, but at the same time I’m sure it’s a hole in your heart.
Antinori: It is in a certain sense. That happened because Mondavi and Frescobaldi used to have a joint venture in Italy, and when Mondavi sold to Constellation [Brands, Inc.], they had the first option to buy Ornellaia, which was normal. Obviously, it was a pity to lose a jewel that was part of the company. On the other hand, we’re pleased that it went to a family who are competitors but also friends.
Shanken: And they take care of it. I love Masseto; it’s one of my favorite wines. Let’s move in a different direction. When did you first go to California?
Antinori: My first visit to California was in the 1960s.
Shanken: To Napa and Sonoma?
Antinori: I went to Napa, and I remember I visited Christian Brothers, Beaulieu Vineyard. I must say, at that time I was not so impressed by what they were doing. But it was just a short visit—I was in San Francisco for Antinori. I started to go on a regular basis in the 1980s, and in 1985, Whitbread decided to make an investment in Napa Valley. They asked me to find something that they could invest in. I went to California and extensively visited Napa Valley. I didn’t find anything that I thought was of particular interest. Except, the last day I was there, in August 1985, somebody showed me a property that was practically virgin land on the hill. At that time hillside viticulture was not very developed in Napa. But when I saw this valley in the Atlas Peak region, I immediately fell in love and thought that it could be a great opportunity. So I convinced Whitbread, though it was not easy. I participated in a board meeting in London and convinced them to go ahead with this project, which was starting from zero.
Shanken: My recollection is that it was 500 acres on the hillside. William Hill was going to be the winemaker at some point. Is that right?
Antinori: William Hill was the previous owner of the land, and he sold it.
Shanken: Does the name Terrence Clancy ring a bell at all?
Antinori: Absolutely, because when, at the end of the 1980s, Whitbread sold all its wine interests, including the Atlas Peak property, Allied Domecq came in, and the CEO was Terrence Clancy. He was a great man with whom we had a fantastic relationship. We cooperated together, because we were small shareholders of that property, together with Bollinger and others.
Shanken: Terry and I were very good friends. He drove me to see the property. He told me what his dreams were and so forth. I had a sort of disconnected idea of what it was. When did you acquire it from Allied Domecq?
Antinori: They kept it for three years, and then decided to sell the property but retain the management. We were able to buy the property and lease it back to them for a period of 15 years. That time expired in 2008, when we became the landlord and also the manager of the property.
Shanken: You produce wine from those grapes.
Antinori: We produce wine from this estate, but we produce only a few thousand cases. The rest of the grapes go to Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars, which we acquired in 2023.
Shanken: I scratch my head even now, but some years later, you got into a joint venture with Chateau Ste. Michelle in which they were doing distribution. You bought 15 percent of Stag’s Leap, and they bought 85 percent. What year was that?
Antinori: It was 2007.
Shanken: Why did you get into bed with them? Here’s a large Washington winery, totally different from you. Why would you put all your eggs in that basket?
Antinori: That year, Warren Winiarski, who was a good, old friend of mine, called me in Florence. He said, “There is a winery for sale in Napa Valley, would you be interested?” I said, “I don’t think so, we have other priorities. We already have a vineyard in Napa.” But I asked, “What is the winery?” He told me, “Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars.” I was a little bit, again, shocked, because I didn’t expect him to sell it.
Shanken: That’s a little bit sneaky!
Antinori: After that, I talked with my friend Ted Baseler, who was CEO of Chateau Ste. Michelle, which used to import our wines in the U.S. He told me they would be interested in buying Stag’s Leap. Warren said he was prepared to sell it to them, provided Antinori was a part of the deal, even a minority part.
Shanken: Why did he want that?
Antinori: He wanted to be reassured that his legacy would be maintained in the company, and he thought we could be the ones to guarantee it. In the deal, even with just 15 percent, we had some rights in terms of the strategy of the company, the quality of the products, that normally a minority shareholder doesn’t have.
Shanken: How long after it was sold to you in 2007 did Warren stop being involved?
Antinori: He continued to be involved in terms of tasting the wines, but not managing the company at all.
Shanken: When he called you and said, “Are you interested in buying a winery in Napa?” and you said, “Which one?” and he said, “Stag’s Leap,” did butterflies of excitement come out of your head? Or did you figure it was so much money it wasn’t something you could afford or justify? Where were you coming from?
Antinori: Obviously, the idea was very attractive and exciting, but I knew that we were not in a position to do it at that time. I told him immediately that we were sorry but not able to do it because we had other priorities in that period.
Shanken: It’s now the end of June of 2024. Can you believe that you now own Stag’s Leap?
Antinori: Sometimes I wake up in the morning and say, “Is it true, or is it a dream?”
Shanken: Going from a grower of Chianti wine in Italy, climbing the ladder with super Tuscans, diversifying around the world, uncertain of the future leadership of the company, until now. It’s got to be extremely satisfying, the portfolio that you’ve assembled, and the fact that your three daughters are the heirs to the next generation.
Antinori: As I was saying before, when I was very young, I always had the dream. I think it’s important always to have a dream. That dream was one day to become among the top quality wine producers in Italy. I think this dream has become a reality now. Certainly I feel absolutely satisfied, but the most important thing for me is also to feel that there is continuity.
Shanken: Let’s talk about your daughters for a minute, because they’re very important to the future of your company. After college, did they start to work in the business, or did they go elsewhere? How did it come about that they started to work in the company?
Antinori: The oldest, Albiera, is the first of the three that started to be really interested in the company. I didn’t expect that. I remember in 1986, I was supposed to go to Canada with a group of other Italian producers for a promotional campaign. I asked her—she was 18, I think—to come with me. At that time, I was the president of the Italian Wine Producers Association, and there was a big scandal in Italy called the methanol scandal that hit the whole wine industry. It was really very bad. So in the middle of our time in Canada, being the president of the association, I was obliged to go back, and I left Albiera alone.
The rest of the trip she did it alone, and she did so well that I understood that she was not only able but also willing to be in the business. That’s how she started. The other two sisters, following the example of their older sister, did the same thing. All three are now fully involved in the business.
Shanken: I assume they get along together, share in the vision, are proud to be part of the family enterprise, for them and their children?
Antinori: Yes. They’re very different from each other, but they complete themselves quite well. Albiera, the oldest, is the president of the company. She has a great understanding of the company, and both Allegra and Alessia are very active.
Shanken: One is in hospitality; one lives in New York, but she’s also the viticulturist. What’s she doing in New York if she’s the viticulturalist? Does she travel a lot?
Antinori: Alessia travels a lot. Her background is in viticulture and winemaking, but then she also had experience in marketing and sales. Now she travels; she’s based in Italy, in Rome. She has responsibility for one of the properties we have near Rome.
Shanken: Are any of your grandkids in the business?
Antinori: Oh yes, absolutely. I have six grandchildren, and three of them are already in the business. The oldest, who’s 33, is in charge of our Chilean winery. The sister is the viticulturist, and she has a very good background; she’s very passionate about agriculture and viticulture. The other one, the son of my second daughter, Allegra, he’s now 24. He’s learning all the production, logistics, bottling, all that part. He’s very interested in the U.S. side of the business. Maybe one day he will be the one who will look after the California side of the business. I am told he has a girlfriend in America, so that’s another excuse to come here.
Shanken: We didn’t talk about Renzo Cotarella, your CEO and head winemaker. Tell me about him. He’s been with you a very long time, and I know that he’s your right hand. Tell me about the history and the role he plays at Antinori.
Antinori: He has been working with me for over 40 years now. I hired him when he was still a student at university in Perugia, in Umbria. His first job was to be the vineyard manager at one of our properties, Castello della Sala, in Umbria, where he did very well. From there, slowly, he has become responsible for all wine production in the company. In the year 2000, he became general manager, and he’s now CEO of the company.
His role is very important. I trust him totally. We speak the same language, we have the same view, the same vision. But also, he has the full trust of my daughters. He’s the ideal bridge between two generations, which is important.
Shanken: I bring him up because I consider him an extension of you. He’s very well-regarded, well-respected, and you guys make a great team together.
Antinori: I consider myself very fortunate to have somebody whose background is in production. For us, the focus continues to be the product. It’s wonderful to have someone responsible for the company who has this focus and technical knowledge.
Shanken: Close your eyes. Think. What was your biggest disappointment in the past 60 years?
Antinori: Well, one has been, believe it or not, the very frustrating period when we were represented here by Julius Wile. It was a great company, and Richard Blum was a great man. But they never understood Italian wines and the market for them. They were totally focused on French wines at that time.
Shanken: French wines are easy! Italian wine’s impossible—who wants to sell Italian wine?
Antinori: They didn’t know the market, and at a certain moment, I saw that there were some signs of recovery. The first signs of what I call the renaissance of Italian wines. They didn’t understand, and they convinced us to do things that were really mistakes. For instance, it was the moment when Veronese wines started to be fashionable. They told us, you have to be in the Veronese market. We were obliged to buy a company in Verona. Then we put the Antinori name on the Veronese wines, which was a big mistake.
Richard Blum once came to see us in Florence. In my office, he saw a decorative bottle in the shape of a fish. He said, “It could be a great idea to have a white wine in a fish bottle,” and they convinced us to produce a fish bottle. One day, I remember, I was coming to New York. At passport control, the officer saw my name on my passport. He asked, “Are you the one with the fish bottle?” And I said no!
Shanken: If this is your biggest disappointment, then you got away with murder! Tell me your greatest success. From when you took over to now, what’s the thing you’re most proud of?
Antinori: I think Tignanello has been my great success because it has changed the company, it has changed Italian wines—Tuscan wines certainly—but it has changed us also. After Tignanello, we became much more sure of ourselves, of the potential that we had. The pride of being able to contribute to the image of “‘Made in Italy” worldwide—Tignanello made all these changes in our personality.
Shanken: I’m very, very disappointed. When I asked you about your most successful moment, I thought for sure—I would’ve bet money—that you would’ve proudly reminded me of your 150-foot putt in Bandon Dunes on the 18th green, where you were so far off the green that when you said you were going to putt it, I didn’t think anyone could make it! And it went down in a straight line, made a 180-degree turn and came back around—it was the most unbelievable putt I’ve ever seen.
Antinori: You know, Marvin, I’m not proud of that, because that was pure luck!
Shanken: Wasn’t that unbelievable?
Antinori: In life, to be successful, you also need luck. I consider myself really lucky and privileged to have lived in a period that, in Italy, has been the most important period of evolution. The past 50 years have been more important than the thousands of years before.
Shanken: Last question, which I always ask in these interviews. When the encyclopedia of wine is published a hundred years from now—you’re long gone—somewhere it’s going to have a name in it: Piero Antinori. What do you want it to say after your name?
Antinori: I would like to be remembered as a person who, in my period, not only maintained but also enhanced the reputation of the company, the brands, the family. I continue to think that reputation is the most important thing that we can have, and that a company can have. I’d like to be remembered as somebody who has really helped to improve the reputation of Antinori.
Shanken: You will be. Thank you.
Antinori: Thank you very much, Marvin. I love to remember the old days with you.

Copyright © 2025 Wine Spectator. All rights reserved.