Antinori: Keeping It All In The Family

Family Has Run Wineries For 623 Years, With No Plans To Sell

(CBS)  For six centuries, command of the Antinori empire was passed from father to son. But with no male heir, the marchese, some years ago sold a major stake in the business to Whitbread, a British company whose fortune was based on beer-making.

"It was the period when I didn't know exactly if my daughters would be interested or not to be involved in the business. And so for me that was a way to guarantee a continuity also to the company," Piero Antinori explains.

But the partnership produced mainly grapes of wrath: it was a vintage clash between the foaming suds of quick profits and Piero Antinori insisting he'd sell no wine before its time. This marriage of inconvenience ended when he bought back the shares, keeping Antinori all in the family.

"I think he saw us interested and said 'Why not? What’s wrong with girls?' And so took his chance of expecting his daughters to fall in love with business," Albiera Antinori says.

And that they did. Now all three travel the countryside and the world, helping to grow, promote and market Antinori wines. They sold 17 million bottles last year, $200 million worth, making a healthy profit. And though the business now involves spreadsheets and science, the basics still come, as they have for centuries, from down on the farm.

Albiera Antinori says the family still regards itself as farmers. "This is our origin. Still now in modern times, we are basically, basically farmers."

"We appreciate the nature and the countryside more than the glamorous city life," her sister Alessia adds.

Elegance is the rule at Palazzo Antinori, the family home in Florence. Since the family's wines must be sampled often to ensure quality control, every lunch at the palazzo is a kind of business lunch. The marchese, his wife Francesca, their daughters and sons-in law and the grandchildren partake, and all may have a say.

Asked if there are any family arguments at the table, Piero Antinori tells Safer, "Yes. Sometimes we start with an argument. But after three or four glasses of wine…."

"Everything disappears," his daughter Alessia jokes.

"This palazzo has been in the family since 1506," Piero Antinori says. "Both the headquarters of the business and also the residence of the family."