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Let’s briefly explain the history of the widely-loved blends commonly referred to as a Super-Tuscans. Prior in the seventies, the wine of Tuscany was laughable in quality. Remember that abhorrent Chianti in a tit-shaped bottle at Olive Garden that tasted like Bug-Juice, and came to the table wrapped in a straw basket to hide its shame? That.
Prior to the nineteen thirties, Tuscany was conversely renown for quality, producing some of the world’s finest wines, at least domestically. During the reconstruction era, Tuscany was bogged down in new faces flocking to make wines, and some of them with not the best intentions for the quality or reputation of Tuscany.
Phylloxera had done damage as well, having destroyed many of the older vines in the region, leaving producers clamoring to find new Sangiovese clones on American root stocks, some of which were poor quality, or not suitable for the region overall. At the time, it was not lawful to plant international grape styles, or import cuttings of French Grapes for blending purposes. Regulations required local Sangiovese only in Chianti, with local up to ten percent local white grapes to be used for coloring purposes.
Despite the regulations of the DOC, plenty of Samsonite Clones of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot found their way to Tuscany where diligent vintners began experimenting with the plantings and blending them into the wines. Fortunately, the vintners noticed that their new blended creations were a vast improvement over their lawful plonk. In light of their new creations, a few producers began bottling the better-tasting blends, breaking DOC regulations for the Bolgheri area where they were located.
To understand Super-Tuscans we must understand why Sangiovese wasn’t successful as a standalone in some areas of Tuscany. Bolgheri, in particular, is a maritime climate region, heavily exposed to the elements by the sea. Bolgheri is on the lower slopes, not facing the sun with cooling maritime breezes, and Sangiovese often had trouble ripening, or ripening evenly in these vineyards. This resulted in acetic wines with not much complexity and often a lot of green flavors. Inland Tuscany, towards the Apennine mountains, there are more south-facing slopes and different elevations that result in better growing potential.
Tanuto San Guido was the first major winery to begin bottling Cabernet blends. Wine maker Mario Incisa della Rocchetta first planted Cabernet Sauvignon as table wine for his family years earlier in Sassicaia, until he released a small amount of bottles prior to the seventies. Many others in the area followed suit, creating bolder, more interesting wines using French grapes. There was a renaissance in the Bolgheri region, and the wine-community began to take note. Unfortunately, so did the DOC in Italy, that made Mario and others bottling French grapes label their wines Vino De Tavola, table wine.
A lot of producers in Tuscany had been familiar with the wines of the nearby region of Carmignano, bragged bout by the banking magnate Cosomo di Medici centuries earlier, wines from this area were the first to be given the protections of the DOC and blessings to bottle French grapes Cabernet Sauvignon, and Cabernet Franc with Sangiovese. It is speculated that due to the delightful flavors created in Carmignano, many Bolgheri producers wished to create better tasting wines unrestricted by their tighter Chianti restrictions, creating for themselves and their families instead, blends similar to that of Carmignano for everyday drinking.
Because of the poor quality of Chianti, much of the wine world left the area overlooked. A lot of producers were apt to change their fates, breaking the DOC regulations as Bolgheri had. The first producer to try their hand at bottling the blends in Chianti proper was Marchesi Piero Antinori, when the merchant house released a Cabernet Sauvignon blend from 1971, years later in 1978, known as Tignanello. This was an attempt to combat the super restrictive guidelines of the DOC in Chainti, that required stringent amounts of white grapes, and no other red grapes besides Sangiovese.
After these blended wines began to command higher prices, a competition was organized by Decanter magazine in 1974 between several of these new Tuscan Blends, referred to as Super-Tuscans, and a few prestigious Bordeaux Châteaux. This competition would be similar to the Judgement of Paris, which would take place just a few years later. This proved to be a smashing success for the Tuscan wine producers as an older bottle of Sassicaia managed to sweep the competition, again elevating the wines to grail-levels.
These producers hoped to create a name for themselves that was greater than Chianti and better recognized, and in doing so they were incredibly successful. Their wines were the talk of the world and were fetching higher and higher prices with more international distribution. By the eighties, Chianti began to reform its DOC regulations to allow for the addition of some French varietals, and a lot of producers had already begun to bottle wines as IGP Toscana, after this designation was created specifically to deal with the classification of these prestigious wines.
It wasn’t until the nineties that the DOC Bolgheri finally was created specifically for Super Tuscan wines. DOC requirements for Bolgheri hinder the use of Sangiovese to less than 70% of the blend. Cabernet Sauvignon must make up at least ten percent of the blend, and Merlot can account for up to eighty percent. Any other variety may account for thirty percent of the blend. standard bottles must be labeled Rosso, and aged for twenty-four months.
The ever-important Sassicaia has it’s own special regulations, and is the only winery/vineyard in Italy to have its own DOC all to itself. These wines differ from Bolgheri DOC slightly, as they must be aged for twenty-six months. They must be comprised of up to eighty-five percent Cabernet Sauvignon, and up to fifteen percent Cabernet Franc. This small plot is actually due for a DOCG upgrade rating, but this is only speculation.
Today, you will find very few producers here actually bottling any blend of Sangiovese in Bolgheri generally. Most producers are bottling fallen French grape blends, due to the similar climate to Bordeaux, these wines continue to be as popular and outstanding as they were years ago. Their aging ability has changed little and they’re still incredibly age-worthy.
That's All,
~K