Filippo Baldassarre Fanti, former president of the Brunello consortium, has died

Filippo Baldassarre Fanti, a Montalcino producer and president of the Consorzio del Vino Brunello di Montalcino from 1998 to 2007, has died. Owner of Tenuta Fanti in Castelnuovo dell'Abate, he had tied his professional life to the growth of the family estate and to the Brunello appellation.

Who was Filippo Baldassarre Fanti

Fanti's story in wine begins in the early 1970s. The family property had existed since the nineteenth century, but it was Filippo who turned it from a sharecropping farm into a wine business, setting out on a path focused on vineyards and wine production.

In 1970 he began working on Brunello, planting the vineyards destined for Sangiovese. Ten years later, in 1980, the first vintage of Brunello di Montalcino Fanti was released.

It is the step that defines his story as a producer: from a family farm to a winery firmly established in the production of Brunello, Rosso di Montalcino and Sant'Antimo.

At the helm of the Brunello consortium from 1998 to 2007

Filippo Baldassarre Fanti was president of the Consorzio del Vino Brunello di Montalcino for nine years, from 1998 to 2007. In the line of the consortium's presidents he came after Andrea Costanti and before Francesco Marone Cinzano.

During his presidency, Fanti combined the work on his own estate with a role representing the Montalcino producers as a whole. The consortium remembered him for his contribution to consolidating and establishing the appellation.

The current president, Giacomo Bartolommei, and the consortium have offered their condolences to his daughters Elisa and Elena and to the family.

Tenuta Fanti, from farm to Brunello

Tenuta Fanti is located in Castelnuovo dell'Abate, within the Montalcino territory. The property covers about 260 hectares, 55 of them under vine, alongside olive groves, arable land and woodland.

Production includes Brunello di Montalcino, Rosso di Montalcino and Sant'Antimo.

For wine lovers, the most direct link between Filippo Fanti and wine remains the estate's Brunello. The first vintage, 1980, came from a selection of Sangiovese vineyards on the different slopes of the Castelnuovo dell'Abate area.

Brunello di Montalcino is made exclusively from Sangiovese, traditionally called Brunello in Montalcino. The production zone coincides with the municipality's administrative territory.

A family story carried on by Elisa and Elena Fanti

The presence of the new generation at the estate does not begin with the founder's passing.

Elisa Fanti, a graduate in agricultural sciences, joined the estate full time in 2007, the same year Filippo's presidency of the consortium came to an end. Elisa and Elena Fanti are also listed among the owners of the estate.

The family component has therefore been part of the company's structure for years, not a decision taken after Filippo Fanti's death.

What changes now for Tenuta Fanti?

For the moment, no changes to the structure of the estate connected with the death of Filippo Baldassarre Fanti have been announced.

What can be verified is that Elisa has worked steadily in the business since 2007 and that both Elisa and Elena already appear in the ownership structure indicated by the company. There are, however, no grounds for anticipating any changes in roles or responsibilities.

What remains is a story that began with the family's land in the nineteenth century, was turned by Filippo Fanti into a wine project in the 1970s and reached its first Brunello in 1980. A path that for nine years was also intertwined with leading the consortium of the appellation to which his name has remained tied.