A girl on a motor scooter, a first date that begins as a bet and ends with dancing in front of an orchestra, and a Tuscan winery — the Cecchi story has all the elements of an Italian romance.
The love story of Luigi and Anita Cecchi began in Poggibonsi, Tuscany in the 1950s, when Luigi saw Anita whizz past on her motor scooter. Intrigued by such an adventurous woman, he pursued and married her. Together, they poured their hearts and souls into the Cecchi Winery in Tuscany.
The story of Cecchi actually dates back to 1893, when Luigi’s grandfather – also Luigi – took his experience from working at some of the most famous agricultural companies in Tuscany and set out on his own as a wine merchant and wine taster, an uncommon profession in Italy at the time. Luigi Cecchi, however, had the foresight to see the potential of Italian winemaking, and he believed it would to soar to the apex of world oenology once the quality of the wines was recognized.
In the early 1900s, his son Cesare helped him to develop the wine label ‘Cecchi’, and they began exploring international markets. Cesare is remembered as a man full of optimism and creativity, vision and ambition, always striving for progress and innovation — values he inherited from his father, and instilled in his son.
Grandson Luigi’s intuition for business and inspired introduction of technological innovations helped distinguish Cecchi in the domestic wine industry, and he and wife Anita worked tirelessly to develop new territories in the Americas and Australia. In 1962 they added the 120-ha Villa Cerna property to their portfolio, both to produce Chianti Classico of elegance and character, and also to give their sons a wonderful setting in which to be raised.
It is Luigi’s and Anita’s two sons, Cesare and Andrea, who are now at the company’s helm, as the commercial director and the production and technical director, respectively. Inheriting the same enthusiasm and entrepreneurial know-how of their predecessors, they are focused on sustainability and their wine’s ability to express its territory of origin.
In addition to Cecchi’s headquarters in Castellina in Chianti and the Villa Cerna estate in the heart of Chianti Classico, they also hold Castello Montauto in San Gimignano, where they have been producing Vernaccia di San Gimignano since the late 1980s; the Val delle Rose winery in the Maremma area, where they produce Vermentino, as well as Merlot, Petit Verdot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Colorino, and the estate’s flagship Morellino di Scansano DOCG and Morellino di Scansano Riserva DOCG; and the Tenuta Alzatura winery in Montefalco, Umbria, where they produce Montefalco Sagrantino DOCG and Montefalco Rosso DOC.
More than a century after Luigi Cecchi took the plunge into wine, his risk taking has taken off. Not only is Italian wine recognized the world over for its quality, but the name ‘Cecchi’ itself, worthily synthesized by its award-winning iconic wine COEVO, stands for some of the finest wines being produced in the world today.
Cecchi
Località Casina dei Ponti, 56
53011 Castellina in Chianti –
Siena, Italy
Tel: 39 0577 54311
www.cecchi.net
