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He opened a winery and again consulted Veronelli, who directed him
to the most promising wine producers of the period like Sellari Franceschini,
Mantellassi, Le Pupille, the Cantina Cooperativa of Scansano –
and himself, of course. Classic names, pioneers all. Erik explored,
tasted, produced, and became convinced that all the potential was
there. What was missing was a market strategy. He had to enter the
right “parlours”, the fashionable wine shops. He loaded
up his truck and travelled many miles up and down Italy, presenting
top Morellinos to top people in Milan, Turin, Bologna, Florence...
“A bold wager, won through small victories
and many doors slammed in my face”.
In 1994 Erik left Montemerano and moved a few kilometres away to Scansano.
Business was brisk and in just a few years this winery, too, became
“old” according to the crushing new market laws. Now,
in order to stay on top it was no longer enough just to make good
wine – you needed an image, a marketing strategy. Erik shook
his head, but adapted. In fact, he relaunched his wines, since he
was still driven to be the best. Thanks to billions in investments,
the winery had a facelift, a radical overhaul worked out in ambitious
designs in the imagination of an eminent architect. The exterior was
in brick, “in the style of the Renzo Piano Auditorium in Rome”.
In the centre, the dove symbol of Erik Banti, repeated along the drive
and illuminated when visitors arrived. Then the new offices, an elegant
tasting room with a terrace overlooking the valley, and a Californian-style
wine shop where, as well as wines, a place was found for new products:
fine foods bearing the dove label (tomato sauces, truffle paste, Roman-style
artichokes…) purchased by Erik the gourmet from personally selected
traditional producers. And then books, wine and food publications,
and gadgets with the Erik Banti logo – t-shirts, hats, corkscrews,
and so on. A little something extra, which may not be necessary but
makes a difference.
But don’t be taken in by Erik the Dane. While he’s showing
you the restyling and telling you that “image is what counts
these days”, and confiding that he’d like to stop and
sell up, here he is on the front line in the vineyards. When you feel
the earth shake under your feet, the wise man said, go back to your
roots, to the first day you chose to be what you are. And Erik Banti
did just that, purchasing new land at Poggio Maestrino in the heart
of the Morellino DOC zone, where the prestigious Annoprimo first saw
the light. Every year this wine changes its name (Annosecondo, Annoterzo,
etc.) as if to underline the impossiblity of a “serial”
work of art. And here is where Erik worked on the great wines of the
future. He planted Sangiovese clones, then Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon,
and for fans of foreign varieties, Petit Verdot, Mouvedre, Syrah and
Zinfandel – “which is nothing more or less than our own
Primitivo”. For the poles in the vineyard he used wood from
Swedish Lapland, “where you find the maximum strength in pine”,
and pursued lower yields per hectare, in the name of improved quality.
At Poggio Maestrino, today and tomorrow, like in Montemerano twenty-five
years ago. Following a passionate dream that no business plan can
ever erase.
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