The Il Corti estate, in the Tuscan hills, stronghold of the Corsini family since 1427, has survived the Italian civil wars, conquest by Napoleonic France, fascism and second world war allied occupation. It is now facing its stiffest test: the wind of change from Brussels.

The European Commission, besieged by the New World imports piling up in Europe and awash in a new wine lake, has proposed a drastic solution that will shake the ancient towers of such estates. It wants to pull up almost 5 per cent of Europe's ancient vineyards, and with them the roots of culture and a way of life, to allow the survivors to compete in a globalised industry.