2021 Bolgheri Superiore, Castello di Bolgheri, Tuscany, Italy

Castello di Bolgheri

Castello di Bolgheri have the oldest cantina in the area, established in 1796. They are only winery within the medieval village of Bolgheri itself. Although the most historic in the region, it is only since 1996, under the disciplined ambition of owner Conte Federico Zileri Dal Verme, that Castello di Bolgheri have started to produce and bottle their own wine. The results are truly outstanding.

Federico is a descendant of the noble Della Gherardesca family, the historical landowners of the wider Bolgheri area. His mother was one of three sisters, and following generational change, the family estate was split evenly between them all. One sister married into Incisa della Rocchetta family and started Tenuta San Guido and Sassicaia. The other married an Antinori, from whose land Masseto and Ornellaia were established. Federico’s mother Franca Spalletti Trivelli inherited land sandwiched between both famous estates, choosing to sell grapes to her sisters until the mid 1990s, when Federico took over and starting realizing their potential for greatness. Castello di Bolgheri shares terroir with the now iconic neighbouring producers with 60 hectares of prime vineyards, based on Cabernet Sauvignon on either side of the famous Viale dei Cipressi.

Production is a fraction of many Bolgheri producers, as chief winemaker Alexandro Dondi makes only 25,000 bottles of Castello di Bolgheri, and their second label Vavara. This incredible untold story, and such rare gems in the fine wine world, are increasingly harder to come by. Considering the family connections and calibre of terroir, Castello di Bolgheri offer incredible enjoyment in the glass, and investment in the cellar. These wines represent some of the highest expressions of Bolgheri, with complexity, power and elegance, and a brilliant capacity to age.

Bolgheri

Bolgheri is a new DOC in the coastal Maremma region which first rose to prominence during the 1970s with the emergence of the so-called Super Tuscan wines like Ornellaia and Sassicaia. These new ventures had rocked the DOC establishment by using high proportions of Cabernet Sauvignon, opting out of the DOC system and relabeling their wines as simply Vino da Tavola (table wine). 

Having won universal acclaim and exchanging hands for unprecedented prices (higher even than Tuscany's finest examples), the authorities relented and awarded Bolgheri its own DOC. The actions of the Super Tuscans inspired a generation in Italy, even if some of the wines here have lost a little of their lustre since.

Cabernet Sauvignon blend

Cabernet Sauvignon lends itself particularly well in blends with Merlot. This is actually the archetypal Bordeaux blend, though in different proportions in the sub-regions and sometimes topped up with Cabernet Franc, Malbec, and Petit Verdot.

In the Médoc and Graves the percentage of Cabernet Sauvignon in the blend can range from 95% (Mouton-Rothschild) to as low as 40%. It is particularly suited to the dry, warm, free- draining, gravel-rich soils and is responsible for the redolent cassis characteristics as well as the depth of colour, tannic structure and pronounced acidity of Médoc wines. However 100% Cabernet Sauvignon wines can be slightly hollow-tasting in the middle palate and Merlot with its generous, fleshy fruit flavours acts as a perfect foil by filling in this cavity.

In St-Emilion and Pomerol, the blends are Merlot dominated as Cabernet Sauvignon can struggle to ripen there - when it is included, it adds structure and body to the wine. Sassicaia is the most famous Bordeaux blend in Italy and has spawned many imitations, whereby the blend is now firmly established in the New World and particularly in California and  Australia.