Opulent Opportunities for Collectors of Italian Wines
Tuesday, January 27th - 3:00pm - New York
The New York Palace Hotel, Henry Room
Giovanni Geddes da Filicaja, after studies in Economics at the University of Florence and two years of educational training in England, at the beginning of the 70s, entered one of the primary Italian import companies of fine wines and spirits. In 1977, the company was acquired by the French group Remy Cointreau (cognac Remy Martin, Cointreau, champagne Krug, Piper, Charles Heidsiek, Malibu, etc.) and he became CEO of the Italian company.
From 1983 to 1994 he was the CEO of Antinori (the largest Italian fine wine company). During this period the Florentine wine company strengthened the strategic repositioning of its products and its corporate image. While at Antinori, he also reorganized the corporate structure and dealt with the reacquisition of the whole share package for the Antinori family.
Having completed the Antinori experience, he spent two years as strategic consultant for the wine reorganization of the world-wide distribution of Remy Cointreau Group (1,2 billion euro sales in 45 distribution companies all over the world) as well as consultant of other primary Italian wine companies. At the same time, he started consulting with the Florentine wine company Frescobaldi on the strategic positioning and the reorganization of its corporate structure. One of his assignments was the negotiation with the Robert Mondavi corporation CEO to structure the Luce della Vite joint venture which remains to this day the only one in the Italian wine business.
At the end of 1996, he became CEO of Frescobaldi and a member of the board and Executive Committee of Luce della Vite Srl. Since December 1999 he has been CEO of Tenuta dell’Ornellaia in Bolgheri, one of the most prestigious estates in Italy producing the world renowned Ornellia and Masseto. From 1995 to 2002 he was a member of the Board of Directors of the Gancia Finanziaria, the holding company of the Fratelli Gancia Spa di Canelli (top sparkling wine producer).
In 2005 and 2006, following the sale of the Robert Mondavi corporation to Constellation, the Frescobaldi Group reacquired the 50% shares of Luce della vite and Ornellia and formed a sub holding company, Tenute di Toscana (TDT), in order to have third party minority investors. He has been CEO of TDT since his formation. TDT is the holding company of the brands Ornellaia, Castelgiocondo and Luce della vite.
Giovanni was born in Florence in 1945, coming from a family of Scottish (Geddes) and Italian (da Filicaja) origin. His ancestors have been influential in Florence since the 13th century, as one of the Anglo Florentine families which have contributed to knitting close ties between the UK and Florence. The eldest of six brothers and sisters, he grew up speaking English and French as well as Italian. He is married to a half English half Swedish wife with two daughters, aged 28 and 24.
