Marchese Vittorio Frescobaldi, one of Italy’s visionary leaders in the wine industry, died Aug. 26. He was 97.
“Vittorio’s passing is a big loss not only for his family but for the industry in general,” fellow Tuscan vintner Piero Antinori told Wine Spectator . “I remember that when I started to work in our family business, my father spoke to me of Vittorio as an example to follow for his passion and love for the land, his sense of balance and his unique wisdom. I believe that not only me, but all the wine producers of my generation, owe him a lot and will miss him.”
Vittorio Frescobaldi was born in Florence in 1928 into a family that had worked in the wine business for centuries. He worked at Marchesi de’ Frescobaldi for much of his life, serving as president of the company from 1980 until 2007.
His leadership was instrumental in pursuing quality wines during the 1960s and 1970s when Tuscan wines suffered an image problem. He also helped establish a foothold in Montalcino in 1989 with the purchase of Castelgiocondo, and in Bolgheri in 2002, acquiring Ornellaia in partnership with California’s Mondavi family.
With his brothers Ferdinando and Leonardo, Vittorio also expanded sales, building international distribution in the 1970s. At the time, shipping wines to new markets was a huge learning experience. “For Canada, we needed to write on the case in big letters ‘Do Not Store Outside’ because the wines were freezing and it was breaking the bottles,” Vittorio’s son Lamberto told Wine Spectator in a 2019 interview. “[My father and his brothers] built up great information and know-how.”
Under Vittorio’s direction, the management of the Frescobaldi lands shifted from the traditional Tuscan sharecropping system to a more efficient model of farming by wage-earning workers. Frescobaldi was also a pioneer in viticulture in Chianti. The wines were then a blend of both red and white grapes, and the vines were co-planted. He decided to plant each grape variety in separate blocks—a radical idea at the time which drew the ire of the community regulators, but which allowed for picking each variety when fully ripe.
However, it was a pure Merlot made at Castelgiocondo that caught the attention of Tim Mondavi, then winemaker at Robert Mondavi Winery. He had wanted to make wine in Italy and met Vittorio on one of his trips there. At the end of 1995, the Frescobaldi and Mondavi families embarked on a joint venture in Montalcino called Luce delle Vite. In 2002, Frescobaldi partnered with Mondavi again, purchasing Lodovico Antinori’s shares in Ornellaia. Marchesi de’ Frescobaldi later acquired Mondavi’s shares , becoming owners of the iconic estate, which includes the vineyards of Masseto .
Marchesi de’ Frescobaldi has since ventured into Friuli with Attems , its first wine estate outside Tuscany, bought Tenuta Perano in Chianti Classico, Tenuta Calimaia in Montepulciano, and last year teamed up with Marc di Grazia and Tenuta Terre Nere on Sicily’s Mount Etna. In 2023, the company purchased Domaine Roy in Oregon’s Willamette Valley.
Vittorio is survived by his wife, Bona, and his children: Fiametta, Angelica, Lamberto and Diana.
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