Bancroft Wines has added Castellare di Castellina (Chianti) and its sister property Feudi del Pisciotto (Sicily) to its portfolio after a search to take its Italian range to next level.
Lenka Sedlackova MW, head of brand management at Bancroft, said the company settled on the two estates after a hunt for the right partner to expand into the Italian peninsula.
“Castellare fits the bill perfectly. A very well-known and respected name in Tuscany, giving a modern and exciting rendition of Chianti, we have been impressed with the quality of the wines and the dedication of the team towards the UK market,” she said.
Castellare di Castellina was founded in the 1970s by Paolo Panerai and is a leading Chianti Classico estate. Located in a natural amphitheatre in Tuscany, head winemaker and MD Alessandro Cellai is known for championing indigenous varietals to produce age-worthy wines from low-yielding, organically farmed vineyards.
The estate is also a pioneer in clonal research in collaboration with leading universities.
Raffaele Augelli, sales director at Castellare, praised Bancroft’s “deep knowledge of the UK market, strategic approach to premium wine and unwavering commitment to brand building. Bancroft’s values align perfectly with our own, and we are confident that our wines – and the story behind them – will be in expert hands to a further step forward in a key market for fine wines like London where our flagship I Sodi di San Niccolò has been since the eighties.”
Castellare is one of several notable wineries to be added to the Bancroft portfolio in recent months. This includes the estate’s sister property, Feudi del Pisciotto, as well as Thaya (Znojmo, Chech Republic), Flint Vineyard (Norfolk, England) and Bodegas Javier San Pedro Ortega (Rioja Alavesa) and Josef Chromy Estate (Tasmania, Australia).
Bancroft Wines is a UK-based wine importer and distributor specialising in family-run, often sustainable wineries from around the world. It was founded by Adam Bancroft in 1990, before being sold to its current owner, Peter De Haan, in 1999.
