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Banfi is a private concern, founded in New York in 1919 by John Mariani, Sr. and today owned and operated by his grandchildren. The company is focused on the production and import of wine. Castello Banfi is the Mariani family's vineyard estate in Montalcino, Tuscany, which produces award-winning wines that are exported to over 85 countries around the world. Lauded for its work in selection of superior clones of the Sangiovese vine for Brunello, producing more organic wines that are low in sulfites and histamines, developing a hybrid wood and steel fermentation tanks, and using such innovative, less invasive winemaking techniques as tangential filtration and electro-dialysis for tartrate stabilization, Castello Banfi is the first winery in the world to be awarded international recognition for exceptional environmental, ethical and social responsibility (ISO 14001 and SA8000) as well as an international leader in customer satisfaction (ISO 9001:2000). Vigne Regali is the name of the family's sparkling wine cellars in Strevi, Piedmont, run in conjunction with the nearby single-vineyard estates of Principessa Gavia and Rosa Regale. Banfi Vintners is the sole U.S. importer of Banfi's Italian wines along with those of several other producers, principally from Italy (Placido, Cecchi, Sartori, Riunite and Florio), Chile (Concha y Toro and Emiliana) and Australia (Stonehaven). The company has ranked as the nation's leading wine importer for more than three decades. Mr. Mariani named the company after an aunt, Teodolinda Banfi, a woman of eclectic tastes who supervised his early education and greatly influenced his views toward fine wines. Until her retirement, she had served as head of the household staff of the late Pope Pius XI, and is distinguished as the first lay person ever to hold that post. Banfi's success has enabled the company to play a broad philanthropic role through the Banfi Foundation. The Foundation provided seed money to help Catholic Relief Services build a technical school and an orphanage as well as an 800-unit housing project in Potenza, Italy, where thousands were left homeless after a devastating earthquake in the early 1980s. It also generously endows select charities and universities around the world, and sponsors annual scholastic tours to study the food and wine culture of Italy. Banfi is led today by two grandchildren of the founder: James Mariani and Cristina Mariani-May, who share the title of co-CEO. Their fathers, Chairman Emeritus Dr. John F. Mariani and President Emeritus Harry F. Mariani, continue as active counsel to the executive committee and are members of the firm's advisory board. Banfi's world headquarters is a 60-room Elizabethan manor located on a 127-acre estate and vineyard in Old Brookville, New York. Click here for an illustrated guide, in PDF format, that takes you through our Old Brookville estate.