Leading Italian winemaker Masi Agricola is marking a significant anniversary: the 250th harvest at the Boscaini family vineyards and the 250th anniversary of the company. The vineyard is located in Vaio dei Masi, a small valley in the heart of Italy’s Valpolicella Classica region.
“This is the story of an inseparable bond of a surname, Boscaini, and a place name, Vaio dei Masi,” said Masi Agricola President Sandro Boscaini.
He said that the wine company’s success has been “driven by the work of those same members of the family who, over the generations, have cultivated the vines, transformed the grapes into wine and marketed it”. Boscaini also noted how the name has marked the “human and entrepreneurial path” taken by his family to reach today’s Masi Agricola.
[Check the video below for a view across the Masi estate via drone.]
The Masi story began in 1772, when the Boscaini family carried out their first harvest in the vineyards in Vajo dei Masi. After more than 200 years of passionate winemaking the company is still in family hands, run by the sixth and seventh generations.
Masi produces and distributes Amarone and other premium wines and is known for its expertise in the Appassimento method, which has been practised since the time of the Ancient Romans. For more than 40 years, Masi has carried out an ambitious project of the development for historic wineries, collaborating with:
Masi also owns the organically run estates of Poderi del Bello Ovile in Tuscany and Masi Tupungato in Argentina. |
To celebrate the 250th grape harvest, Masi has planned a series of initiatives dedicated to the Boscaini family’s human and entrepreneurial journey. They focus on the wine producer’s history, with an eye on both the past and the future, looking at new projects and the company’s vision.
Anniversary activities began at international trade fairs earlier this year and will culminate in the autumn – at the same time at the 250th harvest – with a series of events in key markets around the world.
A major event is planned for 14 October in Valpolicella, at Masi Agricola’s new ‘Monteleone 21’ headquarters. This extension of the historic winery cellars has been designed as a multi-purpose wine tourism facility for Masi Wine Experience activities and provides a gateway into the world of Amarone.
The event will be live-streamed and the Masi Foundation will use the occasion to award the 41st Masi Prize to two symbols of the Culture of the Veneto and the Culture of Wine. Special guests, representatives of the press and leading figures from the Italian and international business world will join the Boscaini family, the board of Masi and its Foundation for the celebrations.
The tasting of seven decades of Masi Amarone
On the same date, the Masi Technical Group will offer international journalists an unprecedented tasting of no fewer than seven decades of Amarone: 17 vintages and five Amarone wines, from 1958 to 2015.
As Masi Agricola points out, this will be an opportunity to delve into the special characteristics of this wine, with its increasingly admired method of production and organoleptic qualities, made possible by the century-old private Amarone ‘wine library’.
Developments in the wine’s character brought about by changes in society, in taste preferences, and in technological advancement will be examined, as well as the effects of climate change and vintage variation, to address the question: is Amarone the result of a particular production technique or an expression of terroir?
The anniversary Amarone
A special Amarone wine – produced to celebrate this important anniversary – will be presented as part of the celebrations.
According to Masi, Amarone is responsible for the wine maker’s classification as a great producer, “standing out with one of the world’s benchmark wines”.
Called Vajo dei Masi, its grapes come from the eponymous founding vineyard, high in the hills in the Valpolicella Classica region, on the ridge between Marano and Negrar. The vintage is 1997, regarded as one of the best ever in Valpolicella in the last century.
The wine is matured for 25 years, five in wooden barrels (1998-2002) and then storage in stainless steel vats under nitrogen before bottling in May 2022. This process, Masi says, plays a role in how Vajo dei Masi retains an “unusual and unexpected freshness, even after 25 years of ageing, as well as great homogeneity between the different bottles, having not yet had any oxidative ageing effects”.
A limited edition of 2,500 numbered bottles is available in Magnum format only. The label – signed by Sandro Boscaini – features the motto ‘Nectar Angelorum hominibus’. The Masi angel is highlighted in Renaissance red-chalk style.
The figure of the angel also features on the oak presentation box. The wine is accompanied by an oenologist notebook, with comments from technicians involved in each of the various processing stages.
The anniversary logo
The logo celebrating the 250th vintage is a tribute to the Boscaini family’s long history of love for the land and their tenacious sense of business.
The format is an elegant bronze-orange foil, with the Masi trademark accompanied by the number 250 – highlighting the years from 1772 to 2022 – along with two graphic design elements. The first is inspired by the ceiling pattern of Masi’s new ‘Monteleone 21’ HQ. It aims to represent the future of the brand that will open up further to the world by welcoming visitors to this important part of the Masi Wine Experience.
The second is a section of the cornucopia, another important part of historic label design for Masi wines, representing the brand heritage and its international recognition, at the same time, symbolising the richness and abundance of the harvest.
‘Amarone and beyond. Masi: 250 years of harvests, family and business’
The 250th anniversary celebrations is also marked through the publication of a book written by Sandro Boscaini on the family history, Masi’s place in the wine world today and its vision for the future.
Published in Italian and English by Egea, the prestigious publishing house of the Bocconi University of Milan, Amarone and beyond. Masi: 250 years of harvests, family and business presents the case history of a successful company.
The story will also be available as an eight-episode podcast, produced in collaboration with Matteo Caccia, the author and narrator of Linee d’ombra, a Radio 24 podcast.
Various members of the Boscaini family and company will feature in the podcast series, along with Italian and foreign personalities linked to Masi. Broadcasts will be in Italian and English from September to December on the web and social channels and on international free-to-listen platforms.
The many topics covered will include wines from Amarone to Campofiorin and the secrets of appassimento, the cultural links of the Masi Foundation and the Masi Prize, and the Masi Wine Experience.
Masi Agricola Export and Travel Retail Sales Director Piergiuseppe Torresani reflected on the company’s journey, and its ambitions for travel retail in a special Moodie Davitt Report column earlier this year. Click here to read his comments.
Note: In 2021 The Moodie Davitt Report launched a regular eNewsletter series offering a curated selection of stories focused on the growing wine category in travel retail and beyond, in association with Masi Agricola.
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