15 wines 
Walk-ins welcome 
Tuscany Day Trip from Florence: Siena, San Gimignano, Pisa and Lunch at a Winery
12 hours
From €85.50 per person
Barbanera
Barbanera is a Tuscan wine house at Piazze, a hamlet of Cetona in the far south east of the province of Siena. Altero and Maria Franceschini started it in 1938. The family is on its fourth generation, though the company itself now belongs to the listed group Italian Wine Brands. Their grandsons Paolo and Marco turned it into a company in 1978 and still run it. Most wines are soft Toscana IGT reds, several from grapes dried a little before pressing, and Saracosa follows the old Tuscan governo method.
-
Tuscany
- 15 wines
- Walk-ins welcome
Wines from Barbanera
About Barbanera
Altero and Maria Franceschini set up a small wine business in 1938. Their son Luigi learned the trade as a boy, riding to Rome and other markets to sell. Travel then was slow and the buyers were far away, which is a large part of how the family learned the business.
Luigi's sons Paolo and Marco took it over in 1978 and turned it into a company. They pushed abroad early, and Germany became the first real export market in 1982. Both still run the business today. In 2007 the company took the Barbanera name. In December 2022 the family sold the business to Italian Wine Brands, a listed wine group, for about 42 million euros. Part of the money went back into the group's shares.
The wines are mostly Tuscan and mostly IGT rather than DOC. That gives the cellar a free hand with grapes and blending, and Barbanera uses it. There is also a Chianti, and a Primitivo made down in Salento.
Several of the reds are made from grapes left to dry a little before pressing, which thickens the sugar and softens the edges. Saracosa is made by the old Tuscan governo method instead. A small batch of dried grapes is added to the finished wine to set off a second, slower fermentation, and the result comes out rounder and gently fizzy at first.
Three ranges carry the wines: Duca di Saragnano, Barbanera Collezione and Famiglia Barbanera. The Gigino Grande 2021 took four vine leaves in the Italian Sommelier Association's Vitae guide for 2025, the guide's top mark.
The cellar is audited hard. It holds ISO 14001 for environmental management and ISO 45001 for worker safety, the IFS and BRC food-safety standards, a VIVA sustainability verification and a SMETA social audit. That is the shape of a business built for supermarket and export buyers rather than for visitors.
Visit & Experiences
Experiences at Barbanera
The estate lists nothing you can book online, and whether it receives visitors is not confirmed. Its phone number and email are in Practical info. A call is the reliable route here.
Group tours that travel the Tuscany countrysideThese tours stop at other producers in the area. None of them includes a visit to Barbanera.
SMALL-GROUP Wine Safaris: Tuscany Wine Tasting Tour from Florence
9 hours
From €130 per person
Book this tour
Booking viaViator
Winner 2026 Florence Sunset Food & Wine Tour by Eating Europe
3 hours 30 minutes
From €109 per person
Book this tour
Booking viaViator
Not seeing the estate you want? Estates without an online listing are reachable directly, and their phone and email are in Plan your visit.
Some booking links earn italianwines.co.uk a commission. This never affects price or what we recommend.
Plan your visit
Via del Palazzone, 4 - Fraz. Piazze, 53040 Cetona, Siena (Toscana)
What Barbanera makes
Barbanera's current bottle selection is led by Toscana IGT. The clearest grape signal comes from Merlot and Sangiovese.
Denominations
Multiple varieties permitted
Key grapes
Common questions
-
Barbanera, at Piazze in the comune of Cetona, in the south east corner of the province of Siena.
Get in touch
Have a question or need help with a booking?
Tell us what you need and we'll help you reach Barbanera and arrange a visit or tour. We reply within two working days.
More from Tuscany
