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Once upon a time there was “vino da tavola” (table wine), an appellation used in the past to define those wines produced outside of certain rules.

They were simple wines, without particular or significant characteristics, often destined to simple tables. They were products which, thanks to the qualitative force of some of its examples, brought to the birth of the definition, IGT (Geografica Tipica), then changed to the European Community category, IGP.

In 1980, Vincenzo D’Isanto, Florentine Business consultant, bought an estate in Barberino Val d’Elsa and created I Balzini winery, which produced “table wine”.

This came about from a passion and vocation which Vincenzo thought about patiently in order to create a wine that was characterized by personality and elegance.

It was a wine that forcefully expressed his own territory and brought out the best of those cliffs of tuff with a strong fossil presence.

1987 balzini 2And thus, after much experimenting, and advised by maestro Giulio Gambelli, Vincenzo created I Balzini White label 1987.

It was a blend of sangiovese, Cabernet Sauvignon and canaiolo, matured in small Slavonia oak barrels, in 1991, four years from the first harvest. The wine was born of a hot and humid summer, which nurtured it with a harmonious mix of sun and rain.

I Balzini White Label 1987 is the first offering in a production chain that over the years has continuously renewed itself and diversified; all of this thanks to the will and audacity of Vincenzo, for whom it wasn’t enough to make a simple table wine.

We find the same audacity in his wife, Antonella D’Isanto , who has been running the company for 10 years, and on March 6 has taken away the dust off 5,230 of those bottles, conserved for 30 years with care and attention, to allow visitors at the “Terre di Toscana” to try it at a tasting.

This is a demonstration that devotion to your work goes from faith to choices, sometimes moved by thoughtful, studied evaluation, sometimes moved by a courageous bet.

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