Let's discover the Tenuta Prima Pietra brand: here is our interview

Tenuta Prima Pietra is the result of a story of great passion. Owned by Massimo Ferragamo, also the owner of the Castiglion del Bosco estate since 2002, Prima Pietra is fundamentally the realization of a dream.
If you are born in Tuscany, the passion for wine runs in your blood, which is why Massimo Ferragamo could not resist this innate instinct.
The estate is located a few kilometers from the sea, in Riparbella, on the southern slopes of Poggio San Nocola. Here the mountain is characterized by Mediterranean scrub, with precious vineyards and olive groves. The richness of this land is due to the iron and clay components present in the soil, elements that give the wine important characteristics in terms of aroma and complexity. The soil, very deep, constitutes a crucial water reserve for maturation in the driest months.
The vineyards are located in a privileged position, facing the coast, flooded with light all day and sheltered from the cold eastern winds. The highest part, a Merlot vineyard, reaches 450 meters above sea level and is the highest vineyard on the Tuscan coast. It is all these characteristics and the sea breezes that determine the aromas and the slow maturation of the grapes.
Thus, here are the distinguishing elements of Tenuta Prima Pietra:  soil, exposure, and altitude. And not only that, because since 2016 the company has obtained organic certification.

Tenuta Prima Pietra, clearly, also boasts a winery supervised by Cecilia Leoneschi, an enthusiastic and precise oenologist. For Cecilia, great wines are made in the vineyard, which is why every grape is treated with great care. It is from this care that wines born are perfectly aligned with the company philosophy and with the terroir of origin.
In the winery, the selection made in the vineyard is refined and the fermentation of the grapes is managed separately for each variety, thus preserving aromas and fragrances.
Prima Pietra is a guarantee resulting from the perfect mix of complexity and elegance of the varieties, as well as the great potential of its territory.

We love these artisans, these producers of unique, certified, and award-winning delicacies: they are true treasures embedded in our Peninsula among seas and mountains and in the most remote paths of villages and countryside. We do not limit ourselves to just experiencing their products, but we want to discover the protagonists of this brand more closely. This is why we sent some questions to those who manage the communication with us.

Stay with us to learn about Tenuta Prima Pietra: read the answers!
 

• Who are we talking to?
  Ugo Fabbri, Brand Ambassador and Commercial Italy of Tenuta Prima Pietra
   
• Is the company family-owned? In what year was the company founded and who was the founder?
  The company was purchased by Massimo Ferragamo in 2002.
   
• Who was the founder and what was his training or what is the professional field he came from if different from the current one?
  It was Massimo and Chiara Ferragamo who purchased the company. Coming from the fashion world, Massimo Ferragamo is the president of Salvatore Ferragamo USA and was immediately assisted by oenologist Cecilia Leoneschi.
   
• What is the real reason or triggering fact behind the creation of this company and when did it happen?
  Massimo Ferragamo has always felt a strong desire to become part of the wine world. Being born in Tuscany, this passion runs in his blood. In 2002, while visiting the Tuscan coast, famous for its fine wines, he sought the ideal place to create his blend and found this estate, in Riparbella, on the highest hill, because great wines come from great heights. Elegance, attention to detail and quality, refined simplicity, and a connection to the territory are the distinctive traits of Prima Pietra.
   
• What is your relationship with the land of origin and its typicity? And why do you want to tell it through your products?
  The relationship with the land of origin and its typicity is very strong. Prima Pietra is “complexity and elegance,” a wine that is the result of the great potential of the territory from which it comes. Thanks to the altitude of the vineyards, it expresses great freshness and verticality. The proportions of the blend reflect the distribution in the vineyard and may slightly vary based on the harvest of the year. 
   
• What was the first product you created?
  Prima Pietra: 50% Merlot, 30% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Cabernet Franc and 10% Petit Verdot 
   
• What is the product that you now consider “flagship”?
  We produce only one wine: Prima Pietra.
   
• And what is the product that in the entire history of the company has most carried the beating heart, the philosophy and the soul of the company itself?
  Always Prima Pietra
   
• Let's talk about today: how much has the company grown since its inception? Can we have some numbers?
  The property of Tenuta Prima Pietra spans a hill that overlooks the underlying Tyrrhenian Sea and covers 200 beautiful hectares, of which 11 are dedicated to the vineyard - Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, and Petit Verdot - the remaining are covered by forest. The vineyard of the estate is the highest along the entire Tuscan coast and is located 450 meters above sea level. The company has grown in its internal organization; since 2017, work has begun on the ancient farmhouse of the estate, which since 2018 hosts the winery, where we vinify the wine, and also our Wine Shop, a place where we welcome all the people who want to visit the company and where we offer tours and tastings, as well as cooking classes followed by tastings of our wines. Since 2002, the team working at Tenuta Prima Pietra has also grown significantly, now comprising a well-structured and cohesive team, from sales to marketing, production to vineyards, and Wine Hospitality.
   
• At this moment: more tradition or more innovation?
  I would say tradition, but with a strong innovative push. 
   
• What has been the most important evolution of the company to reach what it is today?
  The great work in the vineyard: the people who work there along with oenologist Cecilia Leoneschi know the vines perfectly, observe their characteristics daily, and operate diversely according to the needs of each individual vine.
   
• Speaking of the future: what kind of tomorrow will the company be waiting for? Is any change or new evolutionary process in the works?
  We are working on our vineyards; new varieties will be introduced, but we cannot reveal more.
   
• Are you planning to create new products?
  We are evaluating many possibilities, but at the moment we are still dedicating 100% of our efforts to Prima Pietra. We also have another very niche product, a special wine in very limited production, which is however dedicated only to members of our Wine Club.
   
• Having focused on Spaghetti & Mandolino, how important is online sales to you, what has your relationship been in the past with this sales channel, and how do you see it in the future?
  For us, online sales have always been very important, and they have become increasingly so, especially in a “particularly atypical” period like the one we are going through. We believe that in the future this sales channel will become increasingly important.
   
• Value: what has it been, what is it today, and what will it be in the future for your company?
  Our goal has always been to produce the exceptional quality that the vocation of our lands allows, with great recognizability and integrity of the wines, which are, thanks to the type of viticulture we practice, more closely linked to the territory, more complex, and more long-lived. Every evolution we develop in the future will always have this objective.

S&M