I repeat again, the same thing that I say every time, the length of the article has nothing whatsoever to do with the quality of the wine or wines in question. It depends entirely upon the amount of detail put into each family history, and upon how eloquent a winemaker or owner has waxed about his viticulture, viniculture and winemaking. Short is not worse, nor longer better !

What I, as an historian, find remarkable, indeed more than remarkable, is that every one of the five families, about which we write in our Five Wines, were bankers in Florence, in the 13th century.
These are the families who, in large measure, guided and controlled the destiny of Florence, Tuscany, the Republic and later United Italy, for more than 700 years. Today they are hugely important producers of some of Italy’s finest wines and continue to flourish. Surely this is unique anywhere in the world and throughout the globe.

Antinori, Corsini, Frescobaldi, Machiavelli, Medici (Coltibuono) – these names are synonymous with the grand and intricate history of Italy. Their stories come alive as one researches and writes about them.
This, not only because of the glorious histories mentioned above, but because, between them, they produce a major amount of the fine Chiantis and Super Tuscans, which are the leaders of great Italian wine today.Here you can read the histories of five of the great and the famous reduced to their briefest and simplest essences.

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