Super Tuscany

By Amy Cortese & Robert McCanless

 On the trail of Super Tuscans, AMY CORTESE and ROBERT MCCANLESS discover the sensual pleasures of Italy's booming Maremma region.

Driving along country roads lined with Mediterranean pines, we at last reach the gates of Guado al Tasso. We ring the buzzer, but there is no answer. We are a little early, and this, after all, is Italy. We are in Bolgheri, a tiny town in the western region of Tuscany known as Maremma, to seek out the wines known as Super Tuscans.

At the appointed hour, we try again. This time the gates swing open, and we are met by Allegra Antinori, daughter of Piero Antinori, one of the world's most famous winemakers. Her dusty pants and denim shirt belie the fact that the Antinoris are royalty in these parts.

It was Piero's uncle, the Marchese Mario Incisa della Rocchetta, whose penchant for Bordeaux-style wines led him, starting in the 1940s, to abandon traditional Tuscan winemaking and experiment with Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc. The result, Sassicaia, released commercially in 1968, was a stunning success that proved that Italy could make wine to rival France (and, no less, in an area long considered inhospitable to growing fine wine grapes). Inspired by the marchese, Piero and his father, Niccolò, followed with their own new-paradigm wine in 1971. Called Tignanello, it was based on Chianti's Sangiovese grape, but differed from a typical Chianti in every other aspect of production. The English-speaking wine press, eager to differentiate these elegant reds from Chianti's insipid offerings, coined the name "Super Tuscans." Together, the wines helped usher Italy into the age of modern winemaking.

Super Tuscans today are made all over Tuscany..... (see the attached pdf file)