An alleged arson fire hit my cellar on april 24th

Hi, I'm Giacomo Bindi, owner and winemaker of the " Il Cocco" winery started in August 2000 when I was 19 years old.

Last April 24th we had an arson in the back of the winery, presumably intentional, which destroyed a wooden shed behind the cellar where the 6 new tonneaux were stored, steel tanks containing the wines (1400 liter of our future sparkling wine and about 700 liters of Cabernet), the water dispenser, the air conditioning system both of the cellar and of a part of the farmhouse, the pressure washer and other small stuff that we used to work into the cellar.

The economic damage is currently around 100,000 €, which for me is a lot, being one of the smallest companies in the Brunello area.

I produced a total of 10.000 bottles from 2.5 hectares and my farm is conscious organic since 2000.

Fortunately, on 24th May, having heard the flames shortly, after they had broken out and having immediately warned the firefighters and at the same time taken all the fire extinguishers present in the company (I have used over 13 fire extinguishers), we prevented the fire from spreading to the entire structure, where at the moment there were guests both in the rooms (8 people) and inside the restaurant (27 people).

Special thanks go to the Montalcino fire brigade who rushed to safety in the area affected by the fire and the Carabinieri who worked to try to understand the dynamics.

Unfortunately, 2023 is a complicated year and a few days ago (at the end of May, 30 days after the fire) we had a hailstorm that seriously damaged one hectare of vineyard.

I don't usually ask for help, but in this case, I need to be honest with myself and admit that two catastrophic events in the space of a month are a huge blow to my business and I need some "extra" support.

I hope to be able to thank one by one all the people who want to support me and my family right now.

May life smile at you and may difficulties teach you to be better people.

With love

Giacomo