Italy · Tuscany

Mazzei

Mazzei is one of Tuscany's oldest wine dynasties, with documented roots in Chianti Classico dating to 1435 and a history intertwined with the development of the Chianti appellation — the Mazzei family patriarch Ser Lapo Mazzei wrote the first documented use of the name 'Chianti' in wine context in 1398. The family's flagship estate, Fonterutoli, farms approximately 117 hectares in Castellina in Chianti, one of the appellation's most respected subzones on the high central ridge between Florence and Siena. The prestige bottling Siepi — a Sangiovese and Merlot super-Tuscan from the Siepi vineyard since 1992 — is the primary auction driver, trading at $80–$150 per bottle for top vintages like 1999, 2004, and 2015. The estate Chianti Classico and Ser Lapo Riserva are more accessible auction lots at $40–$70. At auction, 114 lots average $84 per bottle, reflecting the balance between the affordable Chianti range and the Siepi premium. Mazzei earned early international recognition through their connection to the Antinori family network in the super-Tuscan era, maintaining consistent quality under successive generations of family ownership. The modern gravity-flow winery at Fonterutoli, completed in 2006 at a cost of approximately €10 million, is among Tuscany's most technically advanced and operates entirely without pumps during vinification.