Bolgheri, with its Persian blue skies and undulating hillside vineyards, is home to Italy's – and many of the world's – finest vineyards. Within this historical Tuscan region – home to such illustrious names as Guado al Tasso, Ornellaia and Sassicaia – Tenuta Argentiera enjoys the closest proximity to the Tyrrhenian Sea of all its neighbors, doubly outshining its brethren with the highest altitude parcels of pristine vines anywhere in the zone. During the age of the Etruscans, these plateaus were mined for their rich silver deposits, hence the name of this important estate – "Argenti" meaning silver in Italian.
Argentiera began life as part of the larger Donoratico estate, owned by one of Italy's most prominent families, the Florentine Serristori family. Passing into the ownership of another of Bolgheri's most powerful, the Antinori family took over, restoring, beautifying and completing the top parcels until meeting the current owners in 1999. That's when this historical Tenuta truly took flight.
Enter Corrado and Marcello Fratini, the most passionate people to ever set foot on these 1,200 acres. No amount of investment too exorbitant, they brought to the winemaking team not only Federico Zileri (Bolgheri consortium president), but also one of Europe's most sought after oenologists, Stephane Derenoncourt (Clos Fourtet, Pavie-Macquin, Canon-la-Gaffelière, and dozens more). The rest, as they say, has been history – glorious history at that.
