Sassicaia, a radical shift in the cellar

Sassicaia, a radical shift in the cellar
Vino
Magazine: March 2008

“Ce n’est qu en debut”. Television showed images of student protests from the Sorbonne. Italy was in turmoil. It was ‘68 and another revolution was about to happen. A meeting between the aristocracy of Mario Incisa della Rocchetta and the proletarian genius of a wine oenologist: Giacomo Tachis. Also this case France was once again involved, this time with two vines: the Cabernet Franc and the Cabernet Sauvignon. The noble Sassicaia was born. Today, 40 years later we are able to ask how this unequalled phenomenon came about. Never before has a vine with such a short biography become such an emblem. The great French names; Margaux, Latourre, Obrion have taken centuries to become legendary labels. Not so the excellence of the bottle with the eight pointed golden star.

Fine intuition
Sassicaia is the wine of the century, declared so and celebrated by many major international critics. However, to understand the importance of Sassicaia we need to go beyond its intoxicating profile. Sassicaia is responsible for three phenomena that have changed the world of Italian wine. It introduced international vines and invented the Supertuscans, it has restored the image of excellence to Italian wine and has changed winemaking techniques introducing the barrique. It also introduced the planning of vine growing. It has literally invented the Castagneto terroir from which other great wines have been created: Ornellaia, Masseto, Messorio. Without Sassicaia none of this would have come about. It was a radical shift, a type of 68 revolution in the cellar: it changed the mentality of the wine growers. The proletarian spirit of Giacomo Tachis did what not even Mario Incisa wanted: he brought, with his techniques, the vision of power to wine. It could not have been otherwise, seen as Sassicaia was conceived as a surge of fortitude. It all stated with some barbatelle that Mario Incisa received from the Counts Salviati di Pisa who had finally produced a wine that was not sharp and heavy. They were Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc plants. He followed artisan traditions fermenting in open wooden tubs and his fellow farmers said that it “had fire in it”. This was due to the Cabernet Franc and the Sauvignon: herbaceous, bitter, impenetrable to colour, very tannic and alcoholic.

The splendid success of Sassicaia
Mario Incisa did not stop dreaming about the perfect wine. He made his first label in ’58. Then he forgot about it until the mid ‘60s when one of the bottles re-emerged in the cellar of the villa in Poggio. Amazingly, it was still excellent ten years after the vintage. It was a decisive moment. Mario Incisa who was related to the Antinori family decided to take a risk with his wine. Tachis entered the scene. He made a vintage blend in ‘66, ’67 and a few in ‘65. The first 3 thousand bottles of Sassicaia were sold in the company store. The official story begins. Tachis made changes; he imposed fermentation in steel, lowered the cabernet franc to only 15 %, planted other vines and reduced the refinement to 2 years in the barrique. Mario Incisa did not agree. He wanted to carry on making his own wine but the increasing success convinced him and also Niccolò Incisa, his son, had started to work with the wine. In his hands the Sassicaia became a DOC wine in ’94 and the Tenuta San Guido now produces other wines and is expanding. The story continues and weaves in new characters. Starting with Leopoldo Incisa, he left Mario Incisa who linked the Tuscan land with the French vines, and continues today with Niccolò Incisa, a man who has transformed a warehouse, where as a young boy he grew iris bulbs, into a super modern cellar. Even that warehouse has created a legend. It is said that Sassicaia, which has an aroma of red fruits, and seems almost mentholated on the palate, has shades of lily because the walls of the cellar are drenched with the scent of these flowers.