Wine also becomes a development sector for the Unipol Group, which entered the business by chance, with the acquisition of Fondiaria which brought Sai-Agricola and its five estates as a dowry, and is now committed to investing to grow. The latest operation is the ‘Le Cerraie’ logistic cellar in Montepulciano (Siena), inaugurated on 5 April in the presence of local and national institutions: 4,000 square meters with high environmental sustainability, built in place of a large ex-Sai chicken coop, which host bottling, labeling, aging and storage lines for the bottles of most of the group’s estates, gathered in the Tenute del Cerro company: Fattoria del Cerro in Montepulciano, La Poderina in Montalcino, Colpetrone in Montefalco, Monterufoli in the province of Pisa (plus Montecorona which makes cereals and tobacco), for a total of 300 hectares of vineyards and 1.6 million bottles produced per year.
Business development
The investment to build the logistic cellar was 10 million euros. “We now have a state-of-the-art bottling and storage center – explains Gian Luca Santi, Business development and Corporate communication general manager of the Unipol Group – which allows us to think big for the future: now here we will be able to work wine also for third parties and think about business development. The company has now recovered: in 2013 Tenute del Cerro had a turnover of 6 million euros and lost 12 million, in 2021 it had a turnover of 10.7 million with an ebitda of 15% and a positive result.
Export to 50% of production
We have renewed vineyards and machinery, raised quality and reorganized the distribution network, reaching an export of nearly 50%. Now we don’t want to stop. ”The logistics center has 1,200 pallet spaces and a storage capacity of 600,000 bottles, which will allow an annual rotation of three million bottles. «Alongside this investment – explains Antonio Donato, general manager of Tenute del Cerro – we are starting another one worth 18 million to renovate and expand the Montepulciano winery by 2,000 square meters. The works will start by the end of the year and will last two and a half years. Both investments obtained a 40% non-repayable loan from the Ministry of Economic Development linked to innovation and the 15% increase in the workforce ». Today 100 people work in the Unipol Group’s estates. Investments in hospitality are also in sight, with an increase in beds in all estates with the aim of having 70 rooms.