The Folonari family has been in the wine business since the late 1700s. In 1825 the family business became the 'Fratelli Folonari' wholly owned company whose mission was to develop, produce and distribute the best Italian wines in the world.
In 1912, Italo Folonari, Ambrogio Folonari's grandfather, with his brother Francesco, bought the Ruffino winery, known at the time for its characteristically flask-packed Chianti.
After the Second World War, some profound changes took place in Italy in terms of economic development and rising living standards. This trend also influenced the wine sector, where the Folonari family, and Ambrogio in particular, were among the first to promote this trend by producing new, high-quality wines that helped create the 'new frontier' of Italian wine. At the end of the 1960s, the family sold the company 'Fratelli Folonari', which was positioned in the table wine segment, and began to concentrate on bottled wines at origin, thanks also to the acquisition of the famous Tenuta di Nozzole near Greve in Chianti, in the heart of Chianti Classico region. At the same time, they bought other estates in Tuscany with the aim of producing fine wines, including 'Cabreo' conceived by Ambrogio in the 1980s.
In 2000, Ambrogio left Ruffino and the rest of the family and created with his son the: "Ambrogio e Giovanni Folonari Tenute", holding some of the best agricultural properties. This gave rise to a group of companies located in areas with the highest wine-growing vocation in Tuscany.