All change at Avignonesi

Update 13 Jun 2011: another 16 ha is added to Virginie Sacery's holdings...

The news in 2008 that Avignonesi, arguably Vino Nobile di Montepulciano's most emblematic producer, had sold the majority of its shares to the Belgian Virginie Saverys sent a ripple through Italian wine blogs – all of them worried about a historic Italian estate falling into foreign hands. What most of the critics did not realise was that although the Avignonesi name goes back to at least the 16th century, it didn't start bottling wine until 1978.

Whereas grape growing and winemaking had always been part of the...