Sisters Turned Vintners: the Journey of Anna and Francesca
Annafrancesca is a very young company created by two sisters, Anna and Francesca Gobbi, whose roots lie in the visionary dream of their grandfather Battista half a century earlier. The two sisters had already embarked on very different paths, with Anna graduating in international economics and commerce and Francesca as an art restorer. Therefore, they would never have imagined becoming wine-makers and later wine producers. However, their passion for the world of wine and the desire to create a tailor-made job led them to consider the family land as the right opportunity.
In 2013, they decided to leave their respective careers and transform the small Merlot vineyard into a business, adding 36,000 vines and opening the family agricultural company, involving their passionate father. The life change was remarkable; from the first day, they physically committed themselves to the planting and management of the new vineyard, attending professional courses to learn the trade from scratch. Pruning, tractor driving, organic farming, they studied in order to be independent and, above all, to produce grapes of superior quality. A real quality made of very low yields, selection of grapes on the plant, manual harvesting, and organic treatments only.
The work is hard, but the beauty of working in nature and for a personal project is unmatched. Moreover, the worth of this way of life is invaluable to Anna and Francesca. It took only a few years to understand that the grapes produced by the Annafrancesca vineyards deserved not only to be sold elsewhere but also to be transformed into a wine that reflected the taste of the two sisters, that bore their name, and that truly enhanced that territory as unexpected as it is unique. Not the classic wines, but innovative, special, distinctive at first sight, and organic, of course. Again, they started from scratch: without family tradition, without a consolidated market, with no experience in wine-making.
However, they had the experience of a FISAR sommelier and Anna’s past career in commerce. So, with courage and with the help of expert winemakers able to translate their ideas into wine, year after year, the Annafrancesca wines are born; no haste, one by one. Annafrancesca is no longer just a business, but a true passion. The winery itself is the story of Anna and Francesca, the “Pioneers of the lowlands”, the story of a Legnago vineyard and the wines that bear their name, full of the spirit of Grandfather Battista.
Photo Credits: Annafrancesca Vini