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Celebrations today in Greve in Chianti for the 90 years of Ambrogio Folonari, a whole life dedicated to wine.

Together with him, his wife Giovanna Cornaro, their three children Giovanni, Francesca and Angelica and their six grandchildren: in the Villa di Nozzole, which is the beating heart of the life of Ambrogio Folonari, his family and his company.

This morning, when he arrived at the company, the employees delivered him a jeroboam of Cabreo Il Borgo IGT 2016, the iconic wine of the Tenute Folonari, personalized with all their names and with the best of wishes: “For your first 90 years”.

Born in Brescia and adopted by Chianti, Folonari moved to Florence to graduate in Agriculture but was destined not to leave this land anymore: his family, of centuries-old tradition in the wine sector, entrusted him with the management of all the estates and activities in Tuscany.

Florence and Chianti hills become his home. He is the first Italian producer to believe in the bottling process and to launch the first bottled Chianti on the market.

He is always the one, together with a selected group of large producers, to give life to Galestro, the first Tuscan white wine to hit the market with 10 million bottles.

After the Galestro comes the great wine turning point. Ambrogio senses that the market is evolving rapidly, he knows he must enhance the great vines of his region.

In 1982 he thus created the first Supertuscan produced in Tuscany: Cabreo Il Borgo IGT, which is still the flagship wine of the Ambrogio and Giovanni Folonari Tenute company.

In those same years, also as President of Federvini, he promoted the new high quality image of Italian wine and the law on wines of origin, which introduced for the first time the I.G.T., D.O.C. and D.O.C.G. and which is a milestone in Italian enology.

Exactly 20 years ago, in 2000, he founded the Ambrogio and Giovanni Folonari Tenute winery: five estates all located in Tuscany in D.O.C. and D.O.C.G., for a total extension of 350 hectares of vineyards.

“I have dedicated my whole life to wine. I did it with great passion, trying to give my contribution to the quality of the Italian product and its success in the world – said Ambrogio Folonari – To always accompany me, both in private life and in the company, are the great value of the family united and the strong bond with the earth”.

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