Tuscany | Bolgheri

Grandiose wines of world renown.

Once upon a time there was a sleepy village in the Maremma, high above the sea only ten kilometres away as the crow flies. There the family of the wife of the young Marchese Mario Incisa della Rochetta owned a small piece of stony land. Already as a student of agriculture in Pisa, the Marchese dreamed of producing a noble wine like the famous Bordeaux estates. After all, his grandfather had already written books about the most important grape varieties.

Shortly after the Second World War he tried Cabernet Sauvignon on the rocky hill below Castiglioncello Castle. Outside of all then recognized wine-growing areas. 1948 was the year, the first wine was ready. Nothing was sold. Also the next years up to the 1960s the wine was drunk only itself. Always put some boxes away - in order to taste later how it would develop. And the Marchese found that he developed splendidly. So in 1965 two more vineyards were planted with Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc.

Son Nicolò and nephew Piero Antinori finally persuaded the Marchese to market the wine. The rest is legend. In 1968 the first Sassicaia, named after the stony ground (Sassi = stones) came onto the market. The Cabernet Sauvignon with a small percentage of Cabernet Franc caused a sensation in Italy and soon received international awards. The Sassicaia became a cult by 1985 at the latest. The success was partly the fault of oenologist legend Giacomo Tachis, who had already blown the boundaries of Chianti Classico for the Antinori family with the Tignanello and who now also advised Marchese Incisa della Rochetta.

The Supertuscans were born.

Because of course it was over with the calm in this small place. After also Lodovico Antinori, the younger brother of family boss Piero here 1981 the Tenuta dell'Ornellaia, all the famous Italian wine producers wanted a vineyard here. In no time excavators dug up whole hills and the land prices exploded. But - these wines did not fit into any DOC rules. So they labelled it Vino da Tavola - table wine. An English-speaking wine critic turned it into "supertuscans". The international success was gigantic. This pleased the Italian Minister of Agriculture Goria, but that Vino da Tavola stood on the best Italian wines left him no peace. This is how the IGT (Indicazione Geografica Tipica) category was created, which made it possible to market such wines with controlled origins.

In 1994 Bolgheri was promoted to DOC and the Tenuta San Guido, as the winery is actually called, was the first - and still only - winery to receive its own DOC Bolgheri-Sassicaia in 2013.

In the meantime there are many great wines from different producers. Argentiera, Ca' Marcanda (Angelo Gaja), Grattamacco, Guado al Tasso (Antinori), Kappa, Le Macchiole, Michele Satta, Poggio al Tesoro or Tenuta di Biserno are just a few of the names that can be heard alongside the top stags Sassicaia and Ornellaia, the latter belonging to Frescobaldi since 2005.

The almost 200 hectares at the beginning of the 2000s have now grown to more than 1,200, and this has become approx. 4.8 million litres of top-quality wine. Even if the big investment boom has finally subsided again, the Supertuscans from Bolgheri remain audience favourites. You don't treat yourself to anything else. SUPERIORE.DE