In 1996 I was on the board for a non-profit association. A group of cashmere producers had organised a fund-raiser; a dinner preceded by a Philip Glass concert at the Triennale in Milan. The music was wonderful and the meal was enlivened by Brunello di Montalcino, generously offered by some producers. I Colori del Brunello came into being that very evening; engendered by the emotion of Philip Glass tasting Brunello and a very special concentration of passion and talent that evening.

The combination of Brunello di Montalcino and chocolate came like a lightening bolt a few months later. I was drinking Brunello after having tasted a fragment of dark chocolate when I discovered with a jolt what a great relationship exists between these two substances. From then on I have tried to recreate that same excitement when uniting the two.