Castello di Volpaia
Biographies
Carlo Mascheroni and Giovannella Stianti Mascheroni
The husband and wife team of Carlo and Giovannella own and oversee the myriad operations of Castello di Volpaia. Carlo and Giovannella are products of their regions, feeling a natural draw to the land and their village. Their partnership is based on mutual admiration and on a respect for their environment, their heritage and their commitment to bottling the best-quality wines their estate can produce. Their combined vision and entrepreneurial spirit have made Volpaia into one of the most admired and internationally acclaimed wineries in the region.
Carlo was born in Monza, near Milan, in 1940, the second child of eight brothers. As a young man, Carlo was an passionate yachtsman, spending much of his free time racing in the Mediterranean or traversing the world’s oceans. It was while Carlo was away on one of his sailing adventures that he met Giovannella in the seaside holiday village of Versilia. On land, Carlo studied law at the Catholic University of Milan and later took a job as a corporate attorney in Milan.
Giovannella was born in Florence in 1947, the third child amongst three brothers. Her father, Raffaello Stianti, was one Italy’s preeminent printers and bookbinders and a man who adored his daughter. On the occasion her fifteenth birthday Raffaello presented Giovannella with an 18th-century Florentine ring in the shape of two foxes. (“Volpaia” means “fox’s lair” in Italian), thus, in Giovannella’s opinion, “sealing her destiny.”
After completing high school, Giovannella entered the International Interpreters School. Not much later she went to work for RAI, the Italian national radio and television company. In 1972, following her initial meeting of Carlo, Carlo left to sail across the Atlantic on the 1972 OSTAR (Observer Single-handed Trans-Atlantic Race). Upon Carlo’s return, the couple became engaged, were married and relocated to Milan. As a wedding gift, Giovannella’s father presented the newlyweds with the Volpaia estate, which he began purchasing in 1966. In 1974, the couple had their first child, Nicolò, followed by their daughter, Federica, in 1976.
By the mid-1970s, Carlo and Giovannella decided to commit their considerable energies toward modernizing the winery and producing world-class wines — all without altering the external structure of their 11th-century village. The process of achieving their desired level of quality has been a decades-long process.
Along the way, Carlo became the first non-Tuscan to be elected president of the Consorzio Vino Chianti Classico in 1997. (Castello di Volpaia was one of the founding members of the first Consorzio in 1924.) In 2000, Giovannella launched her cooking school to not only educate visitors about Tuscan-style cooking and hospitality, but to keep the traditions of the region’s cuisine alive.
Carlo and Giovannella are the driving forces behind the winery. (Carlo practices corporate law in Milan, and dedicates every weekend and all his other free time to Volpaia.) They view Volpaia as a life-fulfilling project, which is deeply rooted in local traditions while simultaneously developing a broader, global point of view. Both enjoy travel and make a point to attend wine events worldwide. They also continue to enjoy sailing together with their children, Nicolò and Federica.
Nicolò Mascheroni Stianti
Carlo and Giovannella’s son, Nicolò, was born in Florence in 1974. He attended high school in the United States, graduating in 1992 from the Cambridge School of Weston in Weston, Mass. He later attended Boston University, participating in the School of Management (SMG) program. While living in Boston, he worked as a waiter in the city’s North End.
When he returned to Italy, Nicolò earned his bachelor’s degree in economics and legislation from the Bocconi University in Milan in 1998. After graduation, he worked for a consulting company in Milan, which was owned by a Bocconi professor. In 1999, Nicolò was hired by one of Italy’s top publishing companies, specializing in luxury goods and financial information. (The company is a partner of the Dow Jones group in Italy.) Within seven years, he was elevated to CEO of a controlled firm in charge of all electronic publications. In 2001, he became an assistant professor in the strategy department at the Bocconi School of Management.
Although his executive career in Milan was excelling, Nicolò’s passion for Volpaia prevailed in 2007; he now sits on the board of directors at the publishing company so he can dedicate most of his time to the family business. Nicolò met his wife, Annalisa, in high school, but they did not date until college; they were married in 2003. The couple divides their time between Milan and Volpaia. Like his father, Nicolò is an avid sailor and enjoys many outdoor activities. In time Nicolò will assume leadership of Volpaia.
Federica Mascheroni Stianti
Born in Florence in 1976, Carlo and Giovannella’s daughter, Federica, took her earliest degrees in Milan. In 1995, she went to Florence, where she earned another degree in technical restoration in 1998. In 2000, Federica went to work at the university in Arezzo in the Restauro e Conservazione dei Beni Artistici, where she completed her lessons in painting restoration in 2007 with full degrees and top honors. Presently she residences in Florence, where she works as a painting and fresco restorer. She also assists Castello di Volpaia with public relations and events.
In May 2007, the Stianti Mascheronis purchased property in Tuscany’s Maremma region, which includes a high-density vineyard with sandy soil planted to Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot and Sangiovese. Federica is involved in managing this new winery project.
Lorenzo Regoli, Winemaker
Lorenzo Regoli is Volpaia’s vineyard manager and first resident winemaker. He joined the winery in 2000.
Lorenzo was born in Rapolano, Italy (Siena province), in 1970. He graduated in 1996 with top honors in the field of agricultural science from the University of Florence. His area of expertise is in the study of Sangiovese and Sangiovese clones. After writing his final university paper entitled “Research into the selection of Sangiovese clones,” Lorenzo collaborated with the University of Florence for two years to continue to write and publish numerous scientific papers on this varietal. (Part of his studies were published in several scientific journals.)
Lorenzo joined Volpaia after serving three years as a technical director at Livio Felluga in northern Italy’s Fruili region. Chosen from a long and impressive list of applicants, Lorenzo has made many improvements at Volpaia due to his expertise with Sangiovese clones, his attentiveness and his quick, daily responses in both the vineyards and the cellars. A skilled botanist, Lorenzo has dedicated many hours on nights and weekends to cultivating a stunning garden at Volpaia’s Casanuova property, where he lives with his wife and two children.
Riccardo Cotarella, Consulting Winemaker
Born in Monterubiaglio, near Orvieto, on July 2, 1948, Riccardo Cotarella is a valued addition at Volpaia, bringing technical innovation, new ideas and suggestions during the final blending process. (He joined Volpaia in 2001.)
Riccardo’s family has been involved in the wine business for generations. In 1968, he took a diploma from the Conegliano Veneto in enology and viticulture. Throughout the 1980s, Riccardo worked as a freelancer gathering a broader understanding of all aspects of Italian winemaking. Today, he is a university lecturer in business administration at Tuscia University in Viterbo in the department of agriculture, enological and viticultural studies. Riccardo is also chairman of the tasting panel at the Chamber of Commerce in Terni where he certifies the quality and standards of Orvieto D.O.C. and Colli Amerini D.O.C. wines. Riccardo regularly participates on the tasting panel for Est! Est!! Est!!! di Montefiascone D.O.C. wines.
In recent years, Riccardo has received many prestigious awards. In 1998, Robert M. Parker named Riccardo one of the most influential personalities of the last 20 years. Parker described Riccardo as, “...a gregarious, highly talented oenologist...Italy’s answer to France’s Michel Rolland.” In 2001, he was named Winemaker of the Year by Wine Enthusiast and earned a Business and Culture Award from the Italy-America Chamber of Commerce in New York; in 2002, he was named Best Italian Oenologist by Associazione Italiana Sommelier and Gran Medaglia di Cangrande in Lazio; in 2004, he received the Winemaker Career Award from the Commune di Aldeno in Trento, and in 2007, Riccardo was named Best Worldwide Oenologist by VeronaFiere, Vinitaly.
Riccardo consults for 57 wineries (Feudi di San Gregorio, Azienda Agricola San Patrignano and Castello Banfi, among them) of which six are in Tuscany (two in Montalcino, one in Montepulciano). He has chosen to work at only one in the Chianti Classico: Castello di Volpaia.
