Avignonesi sold to Belgian businesswoman

Top Vino Nobile di Montepulciano estate Avignonesi has been sold to a Belgian shipping director for an undisclosed sum.

The owners of the estate sold their majority share to Virginie Saverys, one of the directors of Compagnie Maritime Belge

Saverys is not new to Avignonesi and has held a minority stake in the Tuscan winemaking firm since 2007. That year, she bought shares from Ettore Falvo, the eldest brother of the founding family, who left the company.

Under the terms of the sale, the Falvo family still retains 10% of Avignonesi’s shares and will continue to manage the company over the next five years under Alberto Falvo who remains the company’s president and managing director.

‘Our winemaking philosophy and company strategy will not change but the deal means we can make further investments that will help us continue to improve both the company and its wines,’ Falvo told decanter.com.

Saverys, who has known Falvo for ten years, confirmed that the responsibilty of winemaking would remain with him, but that she would be ‘taking an active role in all other decisions regarding the company, including when and what vineyards to replant, for example’.

As well as Vino Nobile di Montepulciano, Avignonesi also makes a riserva called Vino Nobile Grandi Annate, produced in very good years, and a rare Vin Santo – Occhio di Pernice.

The sale also includes Classica, an international distribution company owned by Avignonesi that specialises in Italian wine, grappa and food products. However the deal does not include Li Veli, a winemaking estate in Puglia that remains in the Falvo family.

Written by Kerin O’Keefe