Fratelli di Martini

The extraordinary adventure of the Fratelli Martini began in 1947 from a bond between two siblings, Secondo and Luigi. From the very beginning, their love for quality wine and sparkling wines. from Langhe, a region in northern Italy perfectly suited for great wine cultivating, could not be denied. The brothers named their wine Sant'Orsola, and for a specific reason: the holy church that stands in the farmhouse in which the brothers were born is dedicated to Saint Ursula. The company owes its growth to the commitment, the dedication, and the preservation of its very origins. When their wine achieved international success, the strong bond linking brothers Secondo and Luigi to their homeland and their people never weakened; these feelings of tradition and native roots rather strengthened over time, and Sant’Orsola continues to serve as an image of the family's history and core values. Sant'Orsola later became known as Casa Sant'Orsola, accurately reflecting the expansion of not only the company but the family itself. The Martini Family history, starting with Secondo and Luigi and carried on today by Gianni Martini, current president, reached its third generation in 2011 when Eleonora, Gianni's daughter, became an integral part of Casa Sant'Orsola. Memories of a glorious past are promises of a divine future.

“He who begins well already launches the success of his masterpiece.” With this idea in mind, we find the roots of success behind Casa Sant'Orsola wines by directly referring to the original company values: excellent grape quality, trusting relationships with local producers, a strict production chain, respect for deadlines, and impeccable sales service. This is the set of values that the company forever possesses at heart. Since the '80s, Casa Sant'Orsola has seen incredible growth in manufacturing and technology that continues to this day, without failure, with the most modern of bottling lines and with constant quality control. Foreign markets make up over 85% of production, showing the extraordinary success of Casa Sant'Orsola wines and sparkling wines. The Fratelli Martini Secondo Luigi now offers several brands that consist of different types of wines from the Langhe region. In 2002, one of these brands became the first Italian wine ambassador into the world: Canti, the Italian Wine Style. A solid debut in U.K. markets and the rapid conquest of those in world makes Canti an exceptional example of the fusion of Italian quality with creative marketing. Today, with a new image linked more and more to purely Italian fashion and design, the brand sees itself face-to-face with leading Russian and Eastern markets but is ever ready to take on the challenge.

The Fratelli Martini Secondo Luigi have always believed and invested in Italian wine heritage as well as in the socio-economic fabric of one’s location of origin, to which much of their success is owed. Surely a defining trait is the firm’s continuous and long-lasting relationships, sealed with decades of mutual trust, with over a thousand wine producers. With excellence in work and production, Casa Sant’Orsola offers a varied and selected range of the finest Italian wines. This production cycle is the company’s strong point. Casa Sant’Orsola is particularly proud of its practices of strict management and complete control of the full production process: from the selection of grapes, coming directly from their own vineyards or from carefully selected growers, to the crushing of these grapes and to the bottling and distribution of the final product. Constant investments in quality, in wine research, and in the innovation of production technology and facilities all form the company’s strategic objective for future development.

The company has achived numerous awards and distinctions, including the prestigious international quality certifications BRC (British Retail Consortium) and IFS (International Food Standard), which have given Casa Sant’Orsola the definition of “Higher Level”-quality brands of wine.

Since its founding, the Fratelli Martini Secondo Luigi has been a company in constant evolution. Its most recent notable symbol is the futuristic barrel cellar dubbed the “Magnificat,” for its feeling of sacredness and majesty as well as its power to inspire and awe. This monumental structure is built on two floors, and its spacial design draws inspiration from Aztec temples. On the lower level, some 6,000 barrels are housed and arranged in crosslike passages, dividing the cellar into four sections. Here the barrels rest in a sort of grand cathedral, with majestic cross vaults of reinforced concrete and glulam. A winding staircase in the center of the room, lit by a skylight that gives it a golden shine, serves as entry to the second level – a balcony overlooking the winery. From there stands a pyramid made of glulam, with a glass dome from which light sneaks in all the way to the barrels. A large terrace of over 2000 square meters engulfs the pyramid, where typical vineyards of the land –  nebbiolo, barbera, dolcetto and moscato  – fill the view.