The wines that dared; and have become one of the most sought after wines from Italy.
To define in easy English, Super Tuscan is a style of wine from Tuscany that does not fall under DOC rules and regulations. As for different categories of wines, the only rules they need to follow is that they do not follow Italian DOC rules.
You will be surprised to see how the Super Tuscans, wines which fetch the lowest categorization in Italian wine classification is hailed for top-notch quality and fetch amazing prices.
The Breakout
It was in the 1960s when few conscientious Italian wine producers mainly from the region of Maremma, Tuscany; they were increasingly sick of the falling reputation of Chianti and Tuscan wine in general. "55 years ago, many wines produced with Sangiovese were coming from vineyards planted for quantity and not for quality," as said by Albiera, daughter of Piero Antinori. And so winemakers, growers and outsiders endlessly debated how to improve this troubling state of affairs.
This started experimenting with non-indigenous grape varieties. They took inspiration from Bordeaux blends and started planting and producing wines using Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot & Cabernet Franc.
The first of these wines was the legendary Sassicaia by Tenuta San Guido from Bolgheri, the first official vintage being 1968 unveiled in 1971 made. Second, being Tignanello from another renowned wine producer Marchesi Antinori.
As these wines did not adhere to the rigid Chianti DOC laws of Tuscany, they were labeled as “Vina da Tavola” which means “table wines”.
The government realized the success of these offbeat wines around 1992, when they created a new category called “Indicazione Geografica Tipica” (IGT) that still remains. This classification stands below DOCG and DOC but above Vina da Tavola.
It is believed that it was wine writer Burt Anderson who first used the common term “Super Tuscans” for these non-conformist wines that were gaining popularity. The name hooked up as consumers did not have to remember different DOC specifications for the wines.
Moving ahead, lets look into the 5 original Super Tuscans.
Sassicaia
Only Super Tuscan to have its own DOC, hailing from Bolgheri DOC from Tuscany. Sassicaia is considered to be the first Super Tuscan ever produced.
Marchese Mario Incisa della Rocchetta wanted to make a full bodied wine for personal use after he tasted a wine from Pisa made of Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc.
Marchese Mario Incisa della Rocchetta
Image Credit: Orange wines
He settled in Tenuta San Guido with his wife in 1940 and it was when he started experimenting with these grapes. The production started by 1948 and it was the 1968 vintage that was released in 1971 officially for public. It was his son Nicolò and nephew Piero Antinori who convinced him to commercially launch Sassicaia.
The name “Sassicaia” means “stony-ground” a replica of the soil type of its brother Bordeaux.
Tenuta San Guido
Image Credit: obrist.ch
San Felice, Vigorello
It was hard to believe that I never knew about this rebel of a wine.
Why do I say so?.
Because while most of the super Tuscans were from near the cost of Maremma. made a new style of wine and established a region for them; San Felice comes from the Chianti Classico region. A famed established region, still they had the courage to drop the medal of fame and begin the process of re-inventing without the highest of classification status.
Enzo Morganti, oenologist and chief winemaker at the helm of San Felice took a purer approach. Morganti, believed Sangiovese could shine as a stand-alone grape, and despite regulations stating that it could only be 70 per cent of the blend, put to market Vigorello, also with the Vino da Tavola classification
Vigorello was a wine born with a 100% sangiovese DNA and then slowly evolved over the years. Cabernet Sauvignon was added to the blend in 1979, and Merlot came on board, in 2001. Sangiovese, Cabernet, Merlot — that’s pretty much what you think of when someone says super-Tuscan today.
But then came in Pugnitello in 2011, that completely replaced Sangiovese and now the wine changed into something new. with the current blend being Pugnitello 35%, Merlot 30%, Cabernet Sauvignon 30%, Petit Verdot 5%.
Pugnitello is a native grape, the name means “small fist” denoting to its small clusters. The Pugnitello grape gives an intense red ruby wine with violet hues. The scent is slightly herbaceous, while the taste reveals a full-bodied, high alcohol content, good acidity and very fine tannins.
Tignanello
From the legendary house of Antinori, Tignanello was the first of many. It was the first Tuscan wine without any white grape blended in them and the first Tuscan wine to be aged in French barriques. This paved a path to the new taste profile of spices and vanilla to Tuscan wines.
Piero Antinori
Image credit: connoisuermagazine.co.uk
The wine comes from the grapes of a vineyard Tenuta San Tignanello, which also gives it the name. Created by Piero Antinori and a very young oenologist Giacomo Tachis in 1970 it was made as a blend of red and white grapes and launched as Chianti Classico Riserva Vigneto Tignanello. Finally in 1975 the white grapes Malvasia and Trebbiano were completely removed from the blend making it a “table wine”.
Grattamacco
Grattamacco was the second winery established in Tuscany’s revered Bolgheri zone, in 1977 by Piermario Meletti Cavallari. The name Grattamcco is a combination of the words “macco”, a mineral which was scraped away (“grattato”) during the iron working process carried out by the Etruscans on these vineyard hills.
Piermario Meletti Cavallari
Image credit: Le Esperidi
Grattamacco Estate is perched on top of a hill facing the Tyrrhenian Sea between Castagneto Carducci and Bolgheri along the Maremma coast in Tuscany.
The Podere Grattamacco Bolgheri DOC Superiore, comes from a 10 hectare steep hilly vineyard out of the total 80 hectares. Grattamacco’s signature style is elegance over power; which comes from the inclusion of 15 to 20 percent Sangiovese grown at a relatively high altitude of 550 to 650 feet above sea level.
While the wine may not be a crowd pleaser like the other big Super Tuscans, it pretty much as a cult following within the connoisseurs of wine.
Image credit: vinojoynews
Solaia
From the house of Antinori, Solaia is often termed as one of the most outstanding achievements of the house that has been producing wines in Tuscany since 1385. Solaia or the “sunny one” is a 50 acre (20 hectare) vineyard located on the Tenuta Tignanello estate; called the “sunny one” due to the high exposure to sunlight it receives.
The wine was first produced in 1978; as an initial blend of 80% Cabernet Sauvignon and 20% Cabernet Franc, maintained for following vintage as well. In the next years, a 20% Sangiovese was introduced with some corrections in the Cabernet Sauvignon / Cabernet Franc ratio, to then obtain the present composition of 75% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Cabernet Franc, and 20% Sangiovese
The fruit that gets rejected for use in Solaia is used in there Chianti Classico Reserva.
Ornellaia
Marchese Lodovico Antinori
Image credit: vinum.eu
Another great Super Tuscans; Ornellaia was established by Marchese Lodovico Antinori of the Antinori family in a property adjacent to Tenuta San Guido that produced Sassicaia. Planted in 1981, the first vintage was released in 1985. The grape varieties are predominantly Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Cabernet Franc, as well as a small plot of Petit Verdot planted in 1995.
The wine is considered as a competition to his cousin Nicolò’s “Sassicaia” and elder brother Piero’s “Solaia”; now that is what I call a great competition.
Piero and Ludovico Antinori
Image credit: winenews.it
Masseto
A 100% Merlot wine made by Tenuta dell'Ornellaia; Masseto was born out of an experiment when Merlot was planted on a slope of blue clay soil in Ornellaia vineyards. A single vineyard site specific wine. It was the legendary winemaker, André Tchelistcheff who pointed out the presence of the 7 hectares of this blue clay that would be great for growing Merlot. Giving birth to a legendary wine.
The name Masseto comes from the presence of the masses of clay on the hill, which are as hard as rock: 'masso' in Italian means rock or boulder.
It was in the 1980s when the first vines were planted and the rest is history. The first bottle was released on the market in 1986, labelled simply as Merlot, while the following year the name Masseto appeared on the label. A single vineyard with different soil types from rocks to clay provides a great mix of profiles which further create this iconic wine.
The wine is considered as a competition to his cousin Nicolò’s “Sassicaia” and elder brother Piero’s “Solaia”; now that is what I call a great competition. Now, that's what we call a top level competition.
Honorable Mention: Giacomo Tachis. "Godfather of Super Tuscan's"
What is the common bond between the legendary Super Tuscan's; Sassicaia, Tignanello, Solaia. It is this legendary man, Giacomo Tachis. He is the man who revolutionized the dream of producing Super Tuscan's.
A native of Piedmont, Tachis was born in Turin in 1933 and studied enology in Alba. In 1961, he was hired by Piero Antinori’s father, Niccolò.he worked for the Antinori's for 30 years to produce Sassicaia, Tignanello and Solaia, before he left and consulted many others in the region.
Although Sassicaia was the brainchild of Marchese Mario Incisa della Rocchetta, the father of the current owner Nicolò, it was Tachis who modernised the wine and introduced stainless steel for its fermentation.
in 1966 Piero Antinori joined the operations and with his partnership with Tachis, they started to look forward in new direction. Tachis, looked towards Bordeaux and was able to get help from famed Bordeaux oenologist Emile Peynaud.
It was decided to eliminate white grapes from the blend and using barriques for maturation.
In 1970, they first developed a special cuvée from their most consistent vineyard on the Santa Cristina estate, Tignanello. They produced a Chianti Classico, using the minimum requirement of legally allowed white grapes, labeling it "Villa Antinori Tignanello Vineyard."
In 1974, the white grapes were eliminated, pump-overs were employed during fermentation to extract tannins and malolactic fermentation was induced. Barrique ageing took place. Then In 1975, the boundaries were pushed even further, by adding 20 percent Cabernet Sauvignon and 5 percent Cabernet Franc to his blend .
Ironically, as per the Chianti Classico appellation rules, enacted in 1967, Tignanello was labeled as a table wine, the lowest denomination.
When Tignanello vineyard saw a fantastic crop in 1978, it gave birth to Solaia. The blend was 75 percent Cabernet Sauvignon, 5 percent Cabernet Franc and 20 percent Sangiovese.
And rest is history. Giacomo Tachis, left us on 6th Feb 2016, but the legacy on the man in Italy's wine renaissance is of prime importance and will be revered.
Comentarios