It was a busy day. In the company’s large yard, a bustle of trucks and forklifts enlivened the atmosphere. In the offices echoed the sound of fax machines and the electronic ringing of telephones as I plowed wide spans down the long central corridor. For months, we had been working on a revolutionary new product: a Chianti that would shake the foundations of the most classic Tuscan wine. Freshness and modernity were the watchwords that had guided us in our efforts to make a wine more suitable for new generations. Chianti had always been and still is an unfailing companion at family tables; an old friend who speaks the frank dialect of our hills. Now, however, it was time to change its wardrobe and freshen up its look, starting with the label. And that was the dilemma that was buzzing in my head that morning. As I lined the offices, all of a sudden, I stopped and aimed my gaze at the painting decorating one of the walls. I was struck by the vivid red of a pair of shears that the winemaker in the picture held firmly in his right hand. Suddenly, all the other options that had crowded into my mind disappeared. Now, only that color existed. Unable to contain my contentment, I rubbed my hands together and rushed to my sister Martina, to share the good news with her.
As soon as I had finished telling her my intuition, Martina disregarded my enthusiasm, replying that red seemed to her too pompous and traditional a color for a Chianti that promised to subvert the canons of wine presentation. In response, she suggested that I veer toward the color yellow, which she said more embodied the concept of innovation. My sister’s bluntness caught me off guard and dampened my euphoria. Yet even her proposal did not fully convince me; yellow was certainly a more energetic color, but at the same time it seemed too spirited and jaunty for a Chianti. To find a compromise to our seemingly irreconcilable positions, we went to our father, who welcomed us into his office. Once the diatribe was exposed, he slowly rose from his chair, reinserted his cuffs, and with his usual calmness told us:
“My boys, the solution is so obvious. You have it before your eyes! Look at yourselves. Remember that we are a family and we must always act as a team. Our strength has been and always will be our unity.”
At that moment, I understood what he was getting at. And so, spontaneously, a word came out of my mouth: “orange,” I whispered. Martina echoed me, “orange.”
Our father also indulged in the euphoria of the moment, and speaking through a smile exclaimed, “orange!” “Which,” he added, “is also the color of our sunsets, when the sun greets, beyond the cypresses, the hills of Chianti.
Chianti Orange was born, a wine destined to revolutionize our winery forever. On the wave of its unstoppable success, Piccini also embraced the color orange, to represent the values that have always distinguished us: innovation and dynamism, always remembering the union of our family.