AmericanWinery.com

Located south of Livorno in Italy’s Tuscany region, the Bolgheri DOC includes the sloping coastal vineyards south of the village of Bolgheri in an area whose wines are much in demand. The dry rosé (Rosato) wines—made primarily from Sangiovese, blended with some Canaiolo and other red grapes—are highly regarded. The area’s dry white wines (bianco) are made chiefly from Trebbiano, blended with Vermentino and other white grapes. But the superior wines made from Bordeaux varieties—Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, and Merlot—have created so much of a sensation in this area that, in 1994, the Italian government granted two changes to this DOC. It added Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot to its list of acceptable grapes and granted Sassicaia (the proprietary name for a Cabernet Sauvignon/Cabernet Franc blend) its own DOC status as subzone of Bolgheri. Indeed, Bolgheri Sassicaia wines were at the vanguard of the Tuscany region’s trend toward non-doc wines called super tuscans. The first Sassicaia was released in 1968, although the wine had been made for numerous vintages before that. Produced by the Marchesi Incisa della Rocchetta estate, Sassicaia is made in a Bordeaux style from vines originally planted with cuttings from the château Lafite-Rothschild estate (previously owned by Lodovico Antinori). It’s aged in barriques for 18 to 24 months prior to release. Other Bolgheri-area super Tuscans include Antinori’s Guado al Tasso and podere Grattamacco’s Rosso (both of which are a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Sangiovese) and the recently purchased Mondavi/Frescobaldi estate’s Ornellaia (a Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, and Merlot blend).