Stefano Rubechini has been declared Montepulciano “Cantiniere of the year” 2012. The announcement was made during the A Tavola con il Nobile cookery competition as part of the Tre Berte Agricultural Fair.

Rubechini, 44 years old, from Centoia, a hamlet near Cortona on the border with Montepulciano, is a graduate of the Angelo Vegni “Le Capezzine” Agricultural College, and the Cantiniere of the Palazzo Vecchio farm. The new holder of the title was selected by a committee made up of representatives of the Consorzio of Nobile producers, the Montepulciano municipal authorities and the Tre Berte Association, from a short-list of candidates drawn up by participating farms. Stefano Rubechini has been a Cantiniere for ten years, but on the farm he also takes care of the vineyards and general farm management.

The Cantiniere competition, now in its eleventh year, was created to award professionals who distinguish themselves in this particular field over a relatively long period of time. The competition was designed to bring recognition to a traditional profession that has its own unique charm, and requires experience, skill, and not a little arcane knowledge. The Cantiniere is a figure that is traditionally associated with the land of Montepulciano and with the Vino Nobile, and a trade that endures notwithstanding the mechanisation of cellar techniques.

 

The title has been awarded to, as well as Stefano Rubechini from the Palazzo Vecchio farm, Marco Papini (the Vecchia Cantina), Primo Marinelli (the Casale Daviddi), Urano Carpini (the Tenuta Valdipiatta), Fabrizio Dottori (the Fattoria del Cerro), Dino Magi (the Cantina Fanetti), Daniele Giani (the Vecchia Cantina), Bruna Casagrande (a rare female in an almost exclusively male field, from the Cantina Gattavecchi), Giorgio Laurini (the Fassati), Enzo Barbi (the Fattoria della Talosa) and the winner of the inaugural award Adamo Pallecchi, the longstanding Cantiniere of the Cantina Contucci.