Travel log #10: Celebrating 25 Years of Bolgheri

It was great to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the creation of the Bolgheri appellation on Saturday night with more than 700 people. The venue alone was memorable with a seemingly endless table flowing up the straight Roman road from the motorway to the village of Bolgheri.

Slightly more than 150 wineries are now making wine under the appellation — many among the greatest cabernets, merlots, and syrahs in the world. It’s come a long way from the first time I visited the region in 1986 for a story on Ornellaia for Wine Spectator. I have been coming back every year ever since.

Most of us know the leaders of the appellation including Tenuta San Guido (Sassicaia), Ornellaia, Guado al Tasso and Le Macchiole among others.

But there are dozens of others making excellent wines — red and white — under the appellation. I believe that Bolgheri may be the best example in Italy of a modern appellation with extremely high quality in winemaking and an international reputation.

You could argue Brunello di Montalcino or Barolo are more famous, but they don’t have the following around the world like the best of Bolgheri. (I will include Masseto, which doesn't use the DOCG, and Sassicaia, which has its own denomination.)

Just before everyone sat down to dinner, an Italian journalist asked me on camera why I thought Bolgheri was such an international success today.

I answered off the cuff that I thought the wines, especially the reds, fell in line with the tastes of fine wine consumers around the world from Russia to the United States to China; and that it made some of the best cabernet sauvignons, merlots, cabernet francs and syrahs out there.

I also emphasized that the overall quality of wines carrying the appellation of Bolgheri was very, very high.

After the two-minute interview, I took my seat. Right next to me was the great Piero Antinori, the man who arguably put Italy, Tuscany in particular, on the fine wine map in the 1970s with the invention of Tignanello and many other accomplishments.

Damn, I thought to myself — if it were not for Piero, the reputation of the region of Bolgheri would never have become what it has. I wish I had said that to the journalist!

A few minutes later, his cousin Nicolo Incisa della Rocchetta of Tenuta San Guido (Sassicaia) strolled over and said hello to Piero and me. Double damn I thought to myself! Niccolò is the man in Bolgheri.

We can all celebrate the creation of the appellation of Bolgheri and the proliferation of great wines there, but we should all be tipping our hats to Nicolò and his cousin Piero.

The latter convinced Nicolo’s father, Mario, to commercialize Sassicaia for the first time in 1968 and started the trend for serious red wines from the region. Before, Bolgheri was really only a source for cheap and cheerful rosé.

Then Niccolò continued his father’s dream and produced some extraordinary wines under the Sassicaia label over the last four decades!

I thought about asking the journalist for another interview but it was too late. I simply toasted both men that night with their wines 2016 Sassicaia and 2016 Guado al Tasso, and savored every sip.

- James Suckling, CEO and editor