Us from Rocca

Luca was born in Siena on April 9th, 1965 and lived with his family in the center of the city, in the heart of the Contrada dell'Istrice, one of the seventeen historical districts of Siena. On May 12th, 1989 Luca started working for Rocca delle Macìe in Castellina in Chianti as winemaker assistant. In 1991 he is promoted head winemaker at Rocca delle Macìe where he is still working supported by a great team of technicians, growing professionally, year by year, with the winery. Behind his passion for the wine Luca has many other interests, he is a great supporter of  Siena soccer team, as all Siena's citizens is involved in the Palio and participate actively to the events and various activity organized by his Contrada, the Istrice one. Since 2003 he is a road runner and attended the New York marathon along with Sergio Zingarelli and other colleagues; in March 2004 he run Rome marathon achieving good results.

Alfio Auzzi, born in Siena on 1978.  If we have had “autoctone” umanbeings Alfio would be one of them!  He arrived at Rocca in the 1997 at the end of his agronomical studies with a great love for the Tuscan landscape and its products. He became soon the agronomical key person of the estate. Now he is the first step of a quality process that start every year in the vineyards and arrive at the end in a glass of wine.  He has experimented new techniques, in order to obtain a higher quality of grapes but also in order to preserve more the environment and his territory.  He introduced several practices environment-friendly: inerbehement, cover crops, use or pruning residuals as organic fertilizations, lower use of the chemical treatments, beekeeping in the vineyards… He is also a great lover of horses, he actually rides a horse race, the Endurance, not very common but really hard not only for the horses, this give us a signal he is really strong on its idea and love for nature!

Marco Toti, born at Incisa Valdarno (Florence) in 1962, married with two sons. In 1981 he graduated in Agricultural Science in Florence. He was involved in the wine business since 1984, with his first activity as a main Director of Selvole Estate with 17 hectares of vineyard. After 18 years of experience in the Agricoltori del Chianti Geografico Company, covered different positions, in 2009 he become General Manager of the company which processed annually 3.000/4.000 Tons of grapes in the main DOC and DOCG appellations in Tuscany. Before his arrival at Rocca delle Macie as Sales and Marketing director he had been Commercial Director of another important Company Castelli del Grevepesa for approximately one year and half. During his career he had been also Member of the Board of Directors of Consorzio Vernaccia di San Gimignano from 2002 until May 2006 as Vice President, and member of the Board of Directors of the Consorzio del Chianti Classico from 2011 to 2014. He is an admirer of classical music and a great supporter of the Fiorentina soccer team.

Thomas Francioni, born in 1976 in Tuscany in a town close to Florence, surrounded by vineyards and beautiful hillside. He graduated in Agricultural Science in 2001 thanks to a thesis on Sangiovese, held where? Obviously in the Chianti Classico Area!  From there he started to work in the territory of Montalcino for about 7 years as a winemaker and vineyard manager at Tenuta di Collosorbo Estate. Since the 2004 he started a cooperation with Consorzio Vino Nobile di Montepulciano taking care of marketing and PR aspects.  So he started primarily from viticulture and enology and progressively less and less involved in the vineyards while more in public relations, marketing and communication of what for him it’s primarily a passion, the wine . The last movement was the  return to the Chianti Classico Area, in fact , from January 2015, after an interview with Sergio Zingarelli during the New York marathon 2014, he joined the warm team of Rocca delle Macìe. Now he take care of marketing activities and communications. He loves nature and sports like hiking, skiing, running and tennis. He current lives in Florence.

Born in 1981, Pietro graduated with a degree in Political Science from Siena in 2006, followed by a Master’s in International Relations from the ISPI in Milan. In 2007, he went to London to work in the banking sector. His passion for wine and for this part of Italy led him in 2008 to join the Rocca delle Macìe export sales team. Today, he is responsible for the distribution network in the European and Middle-Eastern markets. Pietro’s passions include literature, music, cooking and traveling.

Born in 1967, Georgeta hails from Romania and lived in Luxembourg before settling in Italy. A sommelier and wine aficionado, for more than 20 years she has shared her expertise with customers visiting the winery, happy to explain–in Italian, French, German and, on occasion, Romanian–the colors, aromas and flavors of Rocca’s wines.

Born in 1961 in his beloved Porto Ercole, Giorgio’s relationship with the Zingarelli family began with the sea, when in 1986 he was recruited by Italo Zingarelli as a sailor on his yacht, and following this maritime experience, in November 1987 he was asked to live at Rocca delle Macie. After various shadowing experiences in Italy, he was given responsibility for the national market, going on to become the sales manager for Italy, a position he has held for many years. Giorgio is passionate not only about the sea but also about sports, and especially running.

Behind her reserved facade and her constantly wine-stained blouse, there lies a radiant wine expert, very much the right-hand woman of Rocca’s winemaker, Luca Francioni. Chianti born (in 1976) and raised, she has been with the Zingarelli family since 1996. Although the laboratory is her domain, thanks to her consummate knowledge she is often called upon to be an ambassador for Rocca’s wines all across Italy.