Montalcino's Argiano Has New Owners

Noemi Marone Cinzano sells to undisclosed investors so she can focus on her Argentine property

Bruce Sanderson
Posted: February 11, 2013

One of Montalcino's historic properties is being sold. Noemi Marone Cinzano told Wine Spectator that she is selling Tenuta di Argiano, the estate in Brunello di Montalcino that she purchased in 1992. The buyers and price of the transaction were not disclosed.

Cinzano said she wants to focus more time on Bodega Noemia de Patagonia, the property she owns with Argiano winemaker Hans Vinding-Diers in Argentina’s Rio Negro Valley. “My decision [to sell Argiano] was mainly because I spend most of my time in South America and having found somebody that was going to continue what I had started, with possibly even more passion, gave me the confidence to relinquish ownership,” Cinzano said.

The management of the new team is under the direction of Giorgio Gabelli, who joined Argiano's board in late 2012 and became Argiano's general manager in January 2013. Vinding-Diers, Argiano’s winemaker since 2003, will continue to make the wines.

Argiano dates back to the 16th century. It was owned by the Cinzano spirits company before Noemi purchased it two decades ago. The nearly 120 acres of vineyards are planted to Sangiovese, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Petit Verdot and Syrah. The wines, both Brunello di Montalcino and super Tuscans, have routinely received outstanding scores.

Argiano was also one of four properties whose wines were known to have been impounded by a Siena magistrate in 2008 after the judge accused some producers of blending grapes other than Sangiovese into Brunellos. Argiano eventually elected to declassify some of the wines, selling them as super Tuscans.