Wine Tours in Tuscany

Tuscan wine tours: Chianti and Antinori, the super Tuscan wines of Bolgheri – Sassicaia, Ornellaia etc., Brunello di Montalcino and Vino Nobile di Montepulciano, the Pisa Wine Road, Vernaccia di San Gimignano and much more

One of the treasures of Tuscany, an integral part of its cultural and historical tradition, its pride and wealth, is wine. A trip to Tuscany loses half of its meaning if it is limited to discovering the treasures of history and art – museums and cathedrals – but ignores the local wines, because most of the Tuscan “cities of art” are surrounded by wine hills, where they make their own unique wines. No local meal in Tuscany is imaginable without wine, and the “drink of the gods” is perceived by Tuscans as part of the meal rather than a way to get tipsy. Nowadays the wine culture in Tuscany is exemplary and although wine is a part of every Tuscan’s life every day, it is almost impossible to find a real drunkard here. Tuscany, along with Piedmont, is the main wine-producing region of Italy and one of the most important wine regions of the planet. There are thousands of wineries in Tuscany, differing from each other in the nomenclature of the wines produced and the degree of their fame.

Tuscan winemakers boast an extensive list of wines of the most prestigious DOCG category in Italy (Brunello di Montalcino, Morellino di Scansano, Chianti, Chianti Classico, Vino Noblile di Montepulciano, Carmignano, Montecucco Sangiovese, Rosso della Val di Cornia, Suvereto – red wines; Vernacccia di San Gimignano, white; Passito Aleatico dell’Elba, dessert), not to mention forty other DOC areas, one of which also produces “the best wine in the world” (according to Robert Parker – Sassicaia, 1985). Within the Tuscan context, a few legendary producers stand out, producing some of the most famous and great wines of Tuscany, such as Sassicaia-Bolgheri, Solaia-Tignanello-Antinori, Biondi Santi-Brunello, etc., although their prices are relatively high. The many little-known Tuscan wineries also offer great wines, but a knowledge of Tuscan winemaking still makes it impossible to ignore the region’s most famous “brands.

Three thousand years of history

Tuscany has had a long tradition of wine-making for over three millennia, and was first made here by the Etruscans, the creators of the first great culture in Italian history. In dozens of Etruscan tombs which have survived to this day, the main subject of the magnificent frescoes are scenes of feasts with abundant libations, and the ancient Romans considered the Etruscans, their northern neighbours, bitter drinkers. Tuscany’s environment is hilly and diverse, with around two thirds of the land in the region (25% is mountainous and only 9% is flat). It is the hills covered in vineyards that have become the hallmark of Tuscany, with Virgil writing as early as: “Bacchus [the Roman god of wine] loves the hills”.

Tuscany’s regions vary greatly, but are almost always favourable to wine production, which is helped by the Tuscan climate – Tuscany is sheltered from the cold winds from the north and east by the high Apennines mountain range, while in the south-west Tuscany is washed by the waters of the Tyrrhenian Sea. The diversity of the Tuscan landscape, climate and geology is reflected in the equally colourful and varied range of wines, which come to several dozen varieties. The red variety Sangiovese and the white variety Trebbiano are thought to have been cultivated in Tuscany since Etruscan times and, especially in the former case, are still the mainstay of local winemaking today. Other autochthonous Tuscan varieties include Canaiolo, Cilegiolo, Colorino, Malvasia Nera, Aleatico (reds), Trebbiano, Vernaccia, Vermentino, Malvasia Bianca and Ansonica (whites). Among the international varieties common in Tuscany are Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Petit Verdot, Syrah (reds), Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Aligote, Viognier, etc. (white).

Tuscan wine has been known and sought after across the continent since the Middle Ages, when Italy found itself at the heart of European trade. In the XV-XVII centuries, the “old” and “new” Medici dynasties, the Signori of Florence and then the Grand Dukes of Tuscany, patronised the production of quality wines. In 1716, by decree of Grand Duke Cosimo III de’ Medici, a system of wine-growing regions was established in Tuscany, one of the first in Europe. This legacy was continued in the 19th century by renowned Tuscan wine reformers Baron Bettino Ricasoli, who pioneered a new formula of Chianti, which remained unchanged until 1984, and the Marquis Vittorio Albizi, who relied on French (Burgundian) varietals, in a way anticipating the creation of twentieth-century “super Tuscan” winemaking, with vines from Bordeaux first planted west of Florence in Carmignano as early as the seventeenth century. For a considerable part of the twentieth century, despite its glorious history, Tuscan winemaking was in serious decline, caused by a catastrophic invasion by the pest phylloxera as well as by a series of wars and economic crises. Chianti, which since 1932 is produced not in its historical area but almost universally in Tuscany, was for the most part a mass-produced and cheap, but “skinny” wine with an indistinct fruity taste. Other brands of wine, including Vino Nobile and Brunello, remained an internationally little-known regional product.

Fortunately, the situation changed dramatically in the 1970s and 1980s. Thanks to the efforts of aristocratic families (Antinori, Inciso della Rocchetta, Biondi Santi, etc.), great oenologists (Tachis, Gambelli, etc.), local wine consortiums, major international investors and individual wine enthusiasts, a new “wine Renaissance” began in Tuscany, bringing it world fame and recognition once again. It was then that the so-called “Super Tuscan Revolution” began in continental Chianti and coastal Bolgheri, putting an end to the negative experiences of local winemaking and triggering a real qualitative leap in the field of “new wave” winemaking and then in traditional Tuscan winemaking. It was then that new quality systems were introduced in the region, yields were drastically reduced and the use of fertilizers and agrochemicals was limited.

Two wine styles- Classic and Super Tuscan

In terms of winemaking, Tuscany is clearly divided into two regions, markedly different in climate and geology, “wine style” and the nomenclature of grape varieties grown. The first area is “inland” continental Tuscany, where classical winemaking, based on the use of traditional autochthonous varieties, dominates. The second is the coastal part of Tuscany, where the so-called “super Tuscan style” viticulture is prevalent, based on experimentation not only with local grape varieties, but also with international varieties, which are able to fully explore the potential of the terroirs’ soil and climate.

Continental Tuscany – Sangiovese classics: Brunello, Chianti, Vino Nobile and others

Tuscany’s world renown is due to the trio of great red wines produced in the Appellations of the same name, protected by DOCG based on Sangiovese, the “ancient Etruscan” autochthon, namely Chianti Classico, Vino Nobile di Montepulciano and Brunello di Montalcino. In addition to the “great three”, dozens of other Tuscan wines are made with Sangiovese, such as Carmignano, Montecucco-Sangiovese, Morellino di Scansano, Terre di Pisa Sangiovese. Not to mention the big Tuscan Chianti DOCG, the most produced wine in the region (although not always of high quality in the case of mass-market wines) with all its sub-zones: Colli Aretini (Arezzo Hills), Colli Fiorentini (Florentine Hills), Colline Pisane (Pisa Hills), Colli Senesi (Siena Hills), Montalbano, Rùfina, Chianti Montespertoli.

Brunello di Montalcino

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A perfect symbol of Tuscan winemaking tradition, the great red wine Brunello di Montalcino is the flagship of the three classical red wines of Tuscany (along with Chianti Classico and Vino Nobile di Montepulciano), for the first time produced in the Montalcino area in the second half of the 19th century by Clemente Santi and Feruccio Biondi Santi. Due to its outstanding qualities, the finest Brunello occupies top positions in world wine rankings; Brunello is uncompromisingly made from 100% of the main local Sangiovese variety, cultivated in Tuscany since Etruscan times, Brunello is designed to age for decades and is considered one of the longest-lasting wines in Europe. The classic style of Biondi Santi (whose archive preserves all Brunello reserve wines up to 1888) remains the benchmark for the entire Brunello di Montalcino area, which has already registered 240 estates.

However, the “new style” which was introduced in Montalcino with the foundation of the giant Banfi winery in the 1970s, since then the largest producer of Brunello, also gained a considerable following. Instead of the traditional and large “Botti” barrels, with a capacity of several thousand litres, made using mostly very thick planks of Balkan “Slavonian” oak, varnished on the outside, Banfi decided to use French “barriques” for wine storage, with a capacity of only 225 litres, with thin, unvarnished planks.

Barriques have a much more noticeable effect on the character of the wine, and its very development during aging in them becomes more “hurried”. The “new style” found many adherents in Montalcino, but even more wineries rejected it, especially the oldest producers of this wine headed by Biondi Santi. However, it must be acknowledged that the level of “new style” Brunello from several wineries is no less excellent than that of the best “classic” Brunellos. And this is fine, because in addition to harsh almost introverted classic Biondi Santi, or totally “symphonic” Poggio di Sotto, we have cheerful newstyle Brunello Casanova Tenuta Nuova, which in recent years has won several absolute 100-point grades in the world leading wine rankings. And the somewhat uncomplicated Brunello from the giant Banfi vineyard should not be underestimated either. Their level may not be comparable to Biondi Santi, but almost everyone in the world can afford it.

Chianti Classico

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Sold in millions of bottles in all countries and on all continents and known to most of the world, Chianti is by far Italy’s most recognizable wine brand. Chianti, however, can be a very different wine – a great wine meant to age for a long time and a cheap mass-produced wine. Nowadays the wine name Chianti denotes two things at once – the “typical wine” Chianti, produced in the Tuscan region, with established organoleptic characteristics, and the wine with its own historical and geographical origin (in this case it is called Chianti Classico).The name Chianti originally initiates from geographical origins – it is associated with the hilly borderland, over which the communes of Siena and Florence fought endless wars in the Middle Ages, as the legend of the Black Rooster, which is now engraved on every bottle of Chianti Classico, reminds us.

Historical borders of Chianti wine-making zone were first defined in 1716 by a grand duke of Tuscany Cosimo III de’ Medici, but in 1932 the Italian government expanded the Chianti wine-making zone almost ten times over compared to the historic Chianti area after a disastrous invasion of phylloxera that destroyed a big part of vineyards in Tuscany.For more than half a century Chianti Classico remained part of the greater pan-Tuscany Chianti zone without any privileges – the producers from historic Chianti Classico were freed from the dictates of Outer Chianti only in 1996, when the independent appellation Chianti Classico DOCG was formed. A qualitative revolution in Chianti Classico had already taken place when oenologist Giacomo Tachis created the super Tuscan wine Tignanello in the Marchese Antinori’s estate of the same name and soon reformed the recipe for the revived Classico Chianti.

Vino Nobile di Montepulciano

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A half hour drive from Montalcino, the birthplace of the great wine Brunello di Montalcino, on a high hill stands the town of Montepulciano, founded by the Etruscans, but which acquired its current appearance at the height of the High Renaissance in the early 16th century.

Among other cities in Tuscany Montepulciano is interesting because almost every aristocratic palazzo from the Renaissance period has a winery cellar, in some cases it is a real underground catacomb.The underground wineries of Montepulciano produce the famous Vino Nobile di Montepulciano, one of the great classic wines of Tuscany, which has made the town as famous as its magnificent 16th century churches and palazzos. The fame for the local wine came a long time ago, back in the 17th century Francesco Redi in his poem “Bacchus in Tuscany” glorified them as “the manna of Montepulciano” and “the king of all wines”. The term “Vino Nobile” for red wine from Montepulciano first appeared in the account book of the Contucci family’s oldest winery in Montepulciano at the end of the 18th century. The base of Vino Nobile is a local clone of the main Tuscan variety Sangiovese, locally called Prugnolo Gentile. The DOC Vino Nobile di Montepulciano was established in 1960 and was raised to DOCG in 1980.

Maritime Tuscany – Super Tuscan wines

In coastal Tuscany, where the climate is milder and the difference between cold and warm seasons is not as great as in the inland continental areas of the region, the “super Tuscan philosophy” is dominant among winemakers. It is based on the experimentation to create the “ideal” wine based on the grape varieties that best suit the soil and climate of specific local terroirs.Historically, it was in the coastal area of Tuscany that the brilliant Etruscan civilisation flourished almost three millennia ago – by the end of the seventh century BC the Tuscan “seaside” was already covered in vineyards and thriving through active wine exports. Despite such a glorious past, at the beginning of the twentieth century there was practically no wine production on the Tuscan coast, and most of the now flourishing “Riviera” was sparsely populated or even abandoned due to contamination of the swampy shores of the Tyrrhenian Sea with malaria, which was only finally eliminated in the 1930s. Nevertheless, it is in coastal Tuscany, where the Tenuta San Guido estate near the Bolgheri castle now produces the legendary “super Tuscan” Sassicaia, the “best wine in the world” (at least, Robert Parker admitted this a few years ago).

Bolgheri. Sassicaia, Ornellaia and more

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The Sassicaia wine, created in 1968 by the owner of the San Guido estate, Marquis Mario Inciso della Rocchetta, and winemaker Giacomo Tachis, is now recognised as the most sought-after grand wine of Italy on the international market. It was Sassicaia from Bolgheri that opened the era of ‘super Tuscan’ wines a few years before Tignanello from Chianti.

Contrary to all the traditions and rules of Tuscan winemaking at that time, Sassicaia was made with Bordeaux Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc without Sangiovese and aged in compact Bordeaux barriques. Sassicaia proved to be the first ‘superwine’ to break all the traditional notions of where and what could be made in Tuscany. The last third of the 20th century saw a real rush in Bolgheri as the pioneers of Tenuta San Guido were followed by the founders of Grattamacco, Michele Satta, Le Macchiole, Guado al Tasso, Giovanni Chiappini, Ca’ Marcanda and others, who produced wines from Bordeaux varieties that soon became the Bolgheri ‘gold fund’. In the 1980s a new sensation in Bolgheri were the great wines of Ornellaia (Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot and Petit Verdot) and Masseto (100% Merlot), created by Lodovico Antinori and Andrei Chelischev in the Ornellaia estate, which during the last 30 years contested the legendary Sassicaia as the “super Tuscan” wine.

First Bolgheri, then the whole Maremma

The qualities of the Bolgheri terroir – the unique climate, the proximity to the sea, the mineral-rich soil and the ridge of high hills which protect the vineyards from northern and eastern winds – are indeed characteristic of the lands along most of the Tuscan coastline, known as the Maremma, which stretches almost 200 km southwards from Pisa and Livorno to the Lazio border. It is conceivable that in time the entire Maremma will earn the same fame that little Bolgheri now has. Maremma boasts four appellations with the protected label of controlled and guaranteed DOCG origin – Morellino di Scansano, renowned for its fine and fresh wines from autochthonous Sangiovese, Montecucco Sangiovese, where the “heroic” Sangiovese is grown at an impressive altitude (up to 500 metres), as well as the “younger sisters” and rivals of the Bolgheri – Val di Cornia and Suvereto, which produce only red wines based on Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Sangiovese.

The legendary Tua Rita estate is situated in Suvereto, whose Redigaffi (100% Merlot) wine of 2000 harvest was the first of Italian wines to win the coveted Parker’s 100 points. The other classified areas, including Bolgheri Sassicaia, achieved only “DOC” status, but their list is extensive: Bolgheri Sassicaia, Bolgheri, Ansonica Costa dell’Argentario, Capalbio, Parrina, Sovana, Montescudaio, Bianco di Pitigliano, Montereggio, Terratico di Bibbona, as well as the above mentioned Montecucco (without “ending” Sangiovese). In addition, producers from all over Maremma, if necessary, are free to experiment with the varietal composition of their wines, taking the opportunity to designate their wines as Maremma Toscana IGT.An important feature of Maremma winemaking is its still incomplete “experimental” (in a good sense) character – here one can find excellent (and often great) red, white, rosé and sparkling wines made from autochthonous and international varieties, without being too “technological”. It is in Maremma that Tuscany’s most renowned oenologists, Carlo Ferrini, Paolo Trappolini and Luca d’Attoma, work.