Our team

Richard Parsons : the owner
Richard is an eminent New Yorker who consolidated a life-long passion for wine in 2000 when he purchased the Palazzone property. In spite of his important professional commitments he finds time to be present at the estate in the significant moments of the “wine year.” He is here to harvest in person and also to decide the wood aging and blending for each vintage.

 

Paolo Vagaggini : the winemaker
Paolo is considered to be one of the world experts on Sangiovese and has been named as one of the top ten enologists in Italy. He was born in Siena in 1955 and has a thirty year career behind him. A consultant for estates in all of Italy, and also with close contacts in Bordeaux, he has chosen to focus on the production areas for Tuscany’s great red wines: Montalcino, Montepulciano and Chianti Classico. He actually works with a third of Montalcino’s wineries but still manages to be very close to us throughout the year.

Massimo Achilli : the agronomer
Massimo graduated in Scienze e Tecnologie Agrarie and is a qualified taster for regional olive oil panels. He has spent the last 20 years protecting and nourishing olive trees and vines. He has been projecting, creating and consulting for over a decade for Italy’s great red wines; Montalcino, Chianti Classico, Chianti Rufina, Umbria and Bolgheri. He visits Il Palazzone on Tuesdays.

 

The Bakers : internet experts
Husband and wife team, Mike and Erica Baker, run Bakermedia in Connecticut. They designed the first version of the web site in 2005 and stayed onsite at Il Palazzone in 2007. Over the years they have become great friends of the estate. The new web site was developed together with the Bakers and their coding wizard Jake Clark. This is the fruit of a close long-distance collaboration.

 

Meet the Team

We are an international team and a tightly knit family. We eat and laugh together every day of the working week.

Marco Sassetti
Marco was born in S.Angelo in Colle, just minutes from Montalcino. So he is a local man who brings with him all the countryside skills that someone growing up in this area naturally acquires. He is the general manager of the property and is responsible for the vineyard and olive grove management, the cellar construction and the logistics of the property. He created and ran a cult restaurant, La Fortezza del Brunello (6 tables and 600 wines….) and has years of tasting under his belt.

Laura Gray
Laura is a trained sommelier and has a degree in English Literature from the University of Oxford. She has lived in Montalcino since 1995 and has always worked with wine. She has been at Il Palazzone since 2003 and is the estate manager, responsible for sales, marketing, finances and administration. Marco and Laura married in 2000 and have two children. The family live on the property.

 

Franco “Bart” Mascelloni
Franco is from S. Angelo in Colle and has a long history of agricultural work. He is famous for his silences, but whenever he does pronounce an opinion we all listen carefully.

 

 

Abdeljalil Mbarek
Jalil has travelled the length and breadth of Italy since landing in Ischia 15 years ago. His thick Neapolitan accent is a source of great hilarity. He has a wife and three children waiting for him at home in Tunisia.

 

 

Florin Tighici
Florin is from Romania and came on board at Il Palazzone in 2009. He puts up with a lot of teasing as the youngest member of our team.