Fattoria di Montemaggio: A Family Passion

The event has grown to become the biggest wine festival in the world, attracting some 4,000 exhibitors and 150,000 visitors each year.

Amongst this year’s attendees will be the Montemaggio estate, hailing from the Chianti Classico region in Tuscany, 60 kilometres from Florence.

The Fattoria di Montemaggio extends over an area of 70 hectares of vineyards, olive groves and woods, and sits 600 metres above sea level.

The estate says that its natural environment – including its own micro-climate – provides ideal conditions for producing high quality wine that follows organic principles.

The vineyard, which became a fully certified organic wine producer in 2005, has been in operation for over 30 years, but 3.5 years ago was bought over by a Russian family keen to get into the wine-making business.

At the helm of the estate is Valeria Zavadnikova, who previously worked as a lawyer before deciding on a significant career change.

“Wine has been a family passion for many years,” she told Superyachts.com.

“Even as a child I was close to nature – my grandparents had a vegetable garden – and it was always our family’s ambition to run a vineyard.”

When the opportunity arose to purchase the Montemaggio estate, Ms Zavadnikova says there was never any doubt.

“We wanted something quite small and already liveable – because in Italy there is a lot of bureaucracy.

“We liked the fact that Montemaggio was not a commercial estate; it was small enough so that you can take care of everything by hand.

“On bigger estates you can’t harvest by hand any more: you need to use machines.”

Vinitaly 2011 opens tomorrow at the Exhibition Centre and will run until next Monday.