Frescobaldi

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Frescobaldi

The Frescobaldi Family is a prominent Florentine family that has been involved in the political, sociological and economic history of the Tuscany

Tuscany

Tuscany is a region in Italy. It has an area of and a population of about 3.6 million inhabitants. The regional capital is Florence.Tuscany is known for its landscapes and its artistic legacy....
region since the Middle Ages

Middle Ages

File:Karl 1 mit papst gelasius gregor1 sacramentar v karl d kahlen.jpgThe Middle Ages of European history are a period in history which lasted for roughly a millennium, commonly dated from the fall of the Roman Empire in the 5th century to the beginning of the Early Modern Period in the 16th century, marked by the division of Western Christi...
. As bankers, the Frescobaldis financed ventures for numerous members of European Royal Households, including the wars of King Edward I

Edward I of England

Edward I , popularly known as Longshanks, the English Justinian, and the Hammer of the Scots , was a House of Plantagenet King of England who achieved historical fame by conquering large parts of Wales and almost succeeding in doing the same to Scotland....
& Edward II of England

Edward II of England

Edward II, of Caernarfon, was Kingdom of England from 1307 until he was deposition in January 1327. His tendency to ignore his nobility in favour of low-born favourites led to constant political unrest and his eventual deposition....
. The Frescobaldi family also served as papal tax gathers in England to finance the Crusades

Crusades

The Crusades were a series of religious war waged by much of Christian Europe against external and internal opponents. Crusades were fought mainly against Muslims, though campaigns were also directed against Paganism Slavic peoples, Jews, Eastern Orthodox Church, Mongols, Catharism, Hussites, Waldensians, Old Prussians, and political enemi...
. The prominent Italian composer Girolamo Frescobaldi

Girolamo Frescobaldi

Girolamo Frescobaldi was an Italian musician, one of the most important composers of keyboard instrument music in the late Renaissance music and early Baroque music periods....
was a member of this family.

The family is currently headed by Marquis

Marquis

Marquis is a French title of nobility. The English equivalent is Marquess, while in German, it is Markgraf.It may also refer to:Persons:...
Vittorio Frescobaldi, in fact Vittorio Frescobaldi Franceschi Marini, and his brothers Marquis Ferdinando De' Frescobaldi Franceschi Marini and Leonardo De' Frescobaldi Franceschi Marini.

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Encyclopedia

The Frescobaldi Family is a prominent Florentine family that has been involved in the political, sociological and economic history of the Tuscany

Tuscany

Middle Ages

Edward I of England

Edward II of England

Crusades

Girolamo Frescobaldi

Marquis

Wine

Wine is an alcoholic beverage often made of fermentation grape juice. The natural chemical balance of grapes is such that they can ferment without the addition of sugars, acids, enzymes or other nutrients....
producer Marchesi de' Frescobaldi and is behind the Laudemio brand of Italian olive oil

Olive oil

Olive oil is a fruit oil obtained from the olive , a traditional tree crop of the Mediterranean Basin. The wild olive tree originated in Anatolia and spread from there as far as southern Africa, Australia, Japan and China....
.

History of wine production

The Frescobaldi family began producing Tuscan wine in 1308 and soon developed a notable client base. In exchange for exclusive paintings, the Frescobaldis traded their wine with the Italian Renaissance

Italian Renaissance

The Italian Renaissance began the opening phase of the Renaissance, a period of great cultural change and achievement in Europe that spanned the period from the end of the 13th century to about 1600, marking the transition between Medieval and Early Modern Europe....
painter Michelangelo

Michelangelo

Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni , commonly known as Michelangelo, was an Italian Renaissance Painting, sculptor, architect, poet, and engineer....
. The family also supplied wine to Henry VIII and have contracts in their family archives signed by the English King.

The agronomist

Agronomist

Agronomists are scientists who specialize in agronomy, which is the science of utilizing plants for food, fuel, feed, and fiber....
Vittorio degli Albizi was an in-law

In-law

In-law may refer to:*Affinity , kinship by marriage**Brother-in-law**Daughter-in-law**Father-in-law**Mother-in-law**Sister-in-law**Son-in-law...
of the Frescobaldi family through the marriage of his sister Leonida to Angiolo Frescobaldi and with Frescobaldi financing was able to pioneer modern wine production

Winemaking

Winemaking, or vinification, is the production of wine, starting with selection of the grapes or other produce and ending with bottling the finished wine....
techniques in Tuscany. In 1855, Albizi introduced Chardonnay

Chardonnay

Chardonnay is a green-skinned grape variety used to make white wine. It is believed to have originated in the Burgundy wine region of eastern French wine but is now grown wherever wine is produced, from English wine to New Zealand wine....
, Cabernet and Merlot

Merlot

Merlot is a red wine grape that is used as both a blending grape and for varietal wines. Merlot-based wines usually have body with hints of berry, plum, and Zante currant....
vines to the region.

Partnership with Mondavi

In 1995 the Frescobaldi family's Marchesi de' Frescobaldi entered into a joint venture with Robert Mondavi Winery to produce Tuscan wine. The joint venture produced several labels including Danzante, Luce della Vite, and the Wine Spectator
Wine Spectator

Wine Spectator is a magazine that focuses on wine. Founded as a newsprint tabloid by Bob Morrisey in 1976, it was purchased three years later by publisher Marvin R....
"2001 Wine of the Year" Ornellaia

Ornellaia

Tenuta Dell'Ornellaia is an Italian wine winery in the Denominazione di origine controllata Bolgheri in Toscana , known as a producer of Toscana #Super Tuscans wine....
. Following the acquisition of Mondavi by Constellation Brands

Constellation Brands

Constellation Brands, Inc., headquartered in Fairport, New York, is a large international producer and marketer of Alcoholic beverage brands with a large portfolio of products including wine, imported beer and Distilled beverage....
in December of 2004, the Frescobaldi family has been attempting to gain full control of the Tuscan ventures. In March 2005, the family was able to acquire control of Luce della Vite and Ornellaia in April 2005.

Fraud allegations

In 2005, allegations of fraud against Marchesi de' Frescobaldi were investigated by the Italian authorities. The allegations of fraud related to the wine making facility at Castiglione in Val di Pesa and the bottling facility near Pontassieve

Pontassieve

Pontassieve is a comune in the Province of Florence in the Italy region Tuscany, located about 14 km east of Florence, nearby Fiesole, at the confluence of the Arno River and sieve river rivers....
. The wine producer was suspected of importing grapes from outside the Tuscan region and labelling them as "Tuscan grown" for benefits of DOC & DOCG

Denominazione di Origine Controllata

Denominazione di origine controllata is an Italy quality assurance label for food products and especially wines . It is modelled after the France Appellation d'Origine Contr?l?e....
appellation

Appellation

An appellation is a geographical indication used to identify where the grapes for a wine were grown. Restrictions other than geographical boundaries, such as what grapes may be grown, maximum grape yields, alcohol level, and other quality factors, may also apply before an appellation name may legally appear on a wine bottle label....
labeling. In 2008 Frescobaldi was implicated in an investigation involving fraudulent Brunello di Montalcino

Brunello di Montalcino

Brunello di Montalcino is a red Italian wine produced in the vineyards surrounding the town of Montalcino located about southwest of Florence in the Tuscany wine region....
wine of the 2003 vintage in a scandal termed Brunellopoli
Brunellopoli

Brunellopoli is the name given by Italian press for a scandal involving producers of Brunello di Montalcino under suspicion of wine fraud, first reported by Italian wine journalist Franco Ziliani and American wine critic James Suckling of Wine Spectator....
by Italian newspapers. Although offered an out-of-court settlement, Marchesi de' Frescobaldi has opted go to court to clear its name of the allegations.

Tenute di Toscana

In May 2006, the Frescobaldi family merged their Tenuta dell'Ornellaia, Castel Giocondo and Luce della Vite wine holdings into a new venture partnership, Tenute di Toscana, with Stolichnaya Vodka and Michael Mondavi.