Bolgheri, Bolgheri, Bolgheri
Bolgheri: one of the most precious pearls of the land of Tuscany and the pride of Italy in the world.
Bolgheri: protected like a gem by the Metalliferous Hills, with its hills that watch the sun dive into the Tyrrhenian Sea whose breezes let themselves be caressed gently.
Bolgheri: a land dedicated to wine since time immemorial, one of the first to host the cultivation of vines in Europe thanks to the technical knowledge of the Etruscans.
A story made of future
The history of this small, large Tuscan village in the municipality of Castagneto Carducci is a story that has always spoken of values, quality, hard work and excellence: it is the story of a territory with roots that sink into the future .
Due to its strategic position, Bolgheri has been the object of the sights of many peoples over the centuries. Its history as we know it today begins at the end of the seventeenth century.
The Della Gherardescas and the “Invention of Bolgheri”
It is to the Lombard family of Della Gherardesca, absolute lords of the area, that we owe the development of the territory and a flourishing settlement in the hilly area a short distance from the sea.
At the end of the century Guidalberto , one of the Della Gherardesca's protégés, marked the destiny of Bolgheri and its territory.
The nobleman decided to start planting the first vineyards in the flatter and more open areas of San Guido and Belvedere; with them, Guidalberto created what would make Bolgheri and its wine famous: the now iconic Viale dei Cipressi that connects the Bolgheri village to San Guido, a destination for tourists from all over the world.
Guidalberto also began the restructuring of all the vineyards in Bolgheri, thus marking the arrival of modernity in the history of this town.
The dream becomes a nightmare
In the mid-nineteenth century, wine production throughout Europe was in danger of disappearing forever : phylloxera and downy mildew were still names that made the farmers and winemakers of Bolgheri, Tuscany and Italy tremble. These diseases came from far away, probably from the Americas.
The vineyards were dying, the lands were dying: Guidalberto’s lucky dream turned into a nightmare. It seemed to everyone that the word “end” had come for Bolgheri, and not only for Bolgheri.
Antinori and Incisa Della Rocchetta are coming
It was necessary to wait until the beginning of the twentieth century for the plague to end and for Bolgheri to return to the centre of the scene and to play the role that it had taken with strength and courage; after Guidalberto, other now legendary names will leave their indelible mark on the history of Bolgheri.
Marquis Mario Incisa della Rocchetta arrived in Bolgheri in 1930, after marrying one of the two daughters of the Counts della Gherardesca. But as we know, Destiny loves to have its say in events: so the second daughter of the Della Gherardescas married another star, Marquis Niccolò Antinori .
The large Della Gherardesca estate was thus divided in two: the lands on the left of the Viale dei Cipressi went to the Incisa della Rocchetta family, while those on the right were assigned to the Antinori family.
The Bolgheri revolution
It was the extravagance of Mario Incisa della Rocchetta that forever revolutionized the quality of Bolgheri wines. The Marquis, in fact, decided to experiment with the production of red wines on the French model, bringing the cultivation of grapes close to the sea . For the locals, it was a sort of affront. Something anomalous and unthinkable.
Thus the “experimental wine” fruit of decades of attempts remained confined to domestic use.
At least until the decisive intuition of Piero Antinori, son of Niccolò, who proposed to his uncle Mario to attempt to commercialize it.
Sassicaia and the other DOCs: the triumph of the “Supertuscans”
In 1972 the first true Sassicaia was born, which takes its name from the almost six hundred hectares of particularly stony land that Mario Incisa della Rocchetta decided to dedicate to the cultivation of vines that were so disliked, at least initially, by the local population.
In 1983, Bolgheri was awarded the DOC , but only for white and rosé wines. The red wines were classified as Supertuscan , as they were produced outside the regulations; it was not until 1994 that the DOC was confirmed for the reds, the result of the unmistakable blend of grapes such as Cabernet and Merlot.
The definitive consecration came in 1985, when the famous American wine critic Robert Parker awarded the wine the maximum score of 100 hundredths .
The rest is history… A story to drink! Cheers!
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