the People

Carlo Ferrini

Born in Florence, and an agricultural science graduate of the city's university, Carlo Ferrini has been manager of the technical office at the Consorzio del Chianti Classico, where he conceived and implemented the "Chianti Classico 2000" project, and is a member of the Accademia della Vite e del Vino.

He is universally acknowledged to be one of Italy's foremost winemakers. A consultant winemaker at many of Tuscany's leading estates, Carlo Ferrini is active in Chianti Classico, Montalcino, Montepulciano, Arezzo and Pisa, as well as the Morellino di Scansano area of Maremma, where his skill and long experience with his beloved Sangiovese grape are matched by his expertise with the Bordeaux varieties, Cabernet and Merlot.

By virtue of his training as an agronomist, Carlo Ferrini can devote special attention at Tenuta San Leonardo not just to the vinification and cuvée blending of San Leonardo and Merlot but also to vineyard management. He is supervising the gradual conversion of the entire area under vine to the already widely used Guyot training system, and is also making plans for new plantings.

As we wait for the 2002 vintage, which he oversaw from start to finish, first wines released under Carlo Ferrini's supervision will be the 2000 and 2001 Merlots. The Tenuta aims to make these wines more structured than they are at present, and to release a riserva speciale wine in the very best vintages. Ferrini will also be responsible for blending the San Leonardo 2000, in collaboration with the estate's established cellar staff.

We are convinced that Carlo Ferrini's arrival will ensure seamless continuity for the production style that has enabled San Leonardo to establish itself in both the Italian and international markets. Carlo Guerrieri Gonzaga wishes Carlo Ferrini a productive and satisfying winemaking career in Trentino, and a long, happy working relationship with Tenuta San Leonardo.

Giacomo Tachis

An oenologist, friend and colleague of the celebrated Bordeaux professor Emile Peynaud, Giacomo Tachis spent three decades as production manager at the Marchesi Antinori cellars.

He was responsible for creating some of the influential wines that have left their very innovative mark on Italian, and in particular Tuscan, winemaking history from the 1970s on.

We need only mention Sassicaia, Tignanello and Solaia, three reds that have led Italy's recent viticultural and oenological Renaissance. Currently, Giacomo Tachis consults for a number of wine estates in Tuscany and the south of Italy, many wine-related bodies and the Regional Institute for the Vine and Wine in Palermo. A keen bibliophile, Tachis owns an important collection of old works on wine and viticulture.

Giacomo Tachis has been consultant winemaker at Tenuta San Leonardo since 1983 by virtue of his long-standing friendship with Carlo Guerrieri Gonzaga. Dr Tachis' advice is followed faithfully at Tenuta San Leonardo, where vinification and blending are carried out with all the admiration and respect due to a genuine maestro of winemaking in Italy.