Growing up in Italy and having also lived in the United States, Nicola Savignano and his brother Giuseppe Savignano both had the opportunity to live the dream of many by buying real estate in Tuscany on a vineyard and in addition making wine. Nicola and Giuseppe's parents came to Boston in the mid to late 70's. Their dad was an importer and distributor of Italian foods into the states, including the popular brand Barilla. Around the year of 1987, the Savignano family after having spent 11 years in Boston, returned to Italy where the sons including their younger sister all went to college and grad school as well as the military service.
In 1996 they moved back to Boston where they were involved in separate business ventures for about 10 years. At the same time that Nicola had left his company he was working for at the time that had been bought out and relocated, Giuseppe was getting out of his ownership of a restaurant and wine bar that he owned in Rome. This is when they had the opportunity to purchase Tenuta Santo Pietro.
They had known of the
land where Tenuta Santo Pietro was situated from their interest in buying and
developing old ruins that they could renovate and build as vacation homes. They
were finding beautiful farms that were not being utilized well and were growing
grapes in bulk and selling off to cooperatives to make peasant wines. These
were the wines where you would stop at the side of the road with big jugs and
fill up with wine and consume them rather immediately.
One estate was of
particular interest to them that had been poorly taken care of with inefficient
vine growth. The beauty of the building and views were completely overgrown and
the view of the Tuscan town Pienza was completely obstructed. It took close to
two years of the Italian bureaucratic system and obtaining permits along with
renovations to get the business going. After their purchase they went through a
lot of transformation where vines were replanted and they cut back on yields to
be able to start to produce quality grapes. During renovations they uncovered
one of the walls where tons of ivy had been growing and a plaque was discovered
with the name Tenuta Santo Pietro and so the estate was named.
The inn at Tenuta Santo Pietro was opened in 2009. They started making small quantities of wine with the 1st vintages in 2007 including their Chianti, Pio, and the “super tuscan”, Viper. These vintages were first brought over to the Boston area by Nicola at the end of 2010 to see how the market would receive them. The next vintage was in 2009 since they skipped a year to cut back on yields. This vintage was kept in Italy since they still weren’t producing a whole lot. The restaurant on-site was opened in 2011 and that was the first year for their first white, vermentino. In 2013 the vermentino was introduced to the Boston area as well as well as the international blend, Perceptum.
From that point forward a portfolio was assembled of 20 wines from Tenuta Santo Pietra along with 3 other small to medium-sized family owned wineries from the Tuscany and Abruzzo region including I Lauri, Fabrizio Dionisio and Antico Colle. PSP has expanded throughout MA and NH and is in discussions with distributing to other states as well including TX, MN and ME. By the end of September, PSP Imports will have doubled their portfolio in size expanding to other regions including Piedmont, Veneto, Sicily and a wider range within Tuscany. The company will consist of a little over 50 labels from 11 wineries. Future discussions include doubling in size again with wines from other winemaking regions in France, Spain, South American and possibly some wines from the US.
Nicola and Giuseppe’s strong passion behind building the PSP Imports brand and portfolio has driven the company to what it is today with many opportunities ahead. The mission is to not only sell wine, but build relationships with their customers and create a personal experience and go the extra step with a smile.
