Excellent wine businesses: Giovanni Manetti (Fontodi) named Cavaliere del Lavoro

Italian wine has very often narrated stories of its excellent businesses, which are, instead, a reality, confirmed year by year with one of the most esteemed and coveted institutional awards: Cavaliere del Lavoro (the award the Italian President presents to those who have made major contributions to the Country’s economy). Sergio Mattarella, President of the Italian Republic, presented awards to 25 businesses, among which is one of the excellent names in the wine world, Giovanni Manetti, leading Fontodi, one of the historic and most prestigious Chianti Classico wine companies in the Conca d'Oro, in Panzano. The Manetti family has been at the helm of the company since 1968. Manetti is also president of the Chianti Classico Wine Consortium.
This year’s newly awarded Cavalieri in the agro-food and agriculture world include names such as Paolo Gentilini, president and CEO of the historic Roman company Biscotti Gentilini, his “colleague”, Giuseppe Vincenzi, leading the historic Venetian baked goods company, Vincenzi Biscotti (formerly, Matilde Vincenzi & Figli), Antonio Palmieri, at the head of the historic cheese factory, Caseificio Tenuta Vannulo, one of the most prestigious brands of buffalo milk in the world, and Paola Togni, president of Togni S.p.A, the beverage group in the Marche, which includes among its brands Rocca dei Forti Sparkling wine.
The prestigious award presented to the wine producer Giovanni Manetti, at the helm of the prestigious Chianti Classico Fontodi Winery, as well as president of the Chianti Classico Wine Consortium, follows the one presented in 2020 to Marilisa Allegrini, one of the “ladies of Amarone”, and head of the Allegrini family winery in Valpolicella (which has expanded its properties over the years to other top Italian wine territories, like Montalcino, San Polo, Bolgheri, Poggio al Tesoro), and is now added to a long list, testimony to the strength of business stories in the wine world, boasting the top names in the Italian wine business. Piero Antinori, together with Marchesi Antinori is one of the eminent ambassadors of Italian wine and elegance, Bruno Ceretto is one of the great men who made the history of Barolo wine, Arnaldo Caprai, whose winery led by his son Marco Caprai, re-launched Sagrantino di Montefalco and its territory all over the world. And then, Franco Argiolas, the reference Sardinian wine producer, Paolo Panerai, at the helm of Class Editori (and majority shareholder of Gambero Rosso), producer of fine wines in Tuscany (Castellare di Castellina in the Chianti Classico area and Rocca di Frassinello in Maremma), and in Sicily (Feudi del Pisciotto and Gurra di Mare). Sandro Boscaini leads one of the top companies in Amarone della Valpolicella, Masi, while Maria Cristina Loredan Rizzardi, whose family’s ancestors boast a Doge of Venice, is the owner of Guerrieri Rizzardi winery. And there are three more top names that have made the history of Sicilian wine, like the patriarch, Diego Planeta, who founded Planeta Winery (he passed away in September 2020), today led by Alessio, Francesca and Santi Planeta, Giacomo Rallo, creator of Donnafugata (he passed away in May 2016), now led by Antonio and Josè Rallo, and Giuseppe Mastrogiovanni Tasca, founder of Tasca d’Almerita, today led by Alberto Tasca d'Almerita. In addition, Gino Lunelli is the honorary president of Cantine Ferrari in Trento, today led by Matteo Lunelli (and Camilla, Alessandro and Marcello Lunelli). Furthermore, famous winemakers such as Ezio Rivella, oenologist-manager who was the spirit behind founding Castello Banfi in the 1980s, one of the largest private investments that started from zero (by the Italian-American Mariani family) in the Italian wine world.