It’s been 38 years since I first traveled to Bolgheri to report on a new winery, Ornellaia, that is now one of the leading names in this coastal region of Tuscany, and I have had a soft spot ever since for the wines from the area, especially the reds.
Comparisons of the reds of Bolgheri to Bordeaux and Napa Valley have been made because of the region’s reliance on similar grape varietals, mostly cabernet sauvignon, merlot and cabernet franc. But I don’t think that such comparisons are fair considering the unique climate and position of Bolgheri, with vineyards so close to the Mediterranean Sea and its pristine hillsides of maritime trees and brush. This unique ecosystem definitely gives the reds a cool and lightly herbaceous character that comes through in so many wines, including hints of fresh sage, rosemary and mint.
Moreover, Bolgheri generally doesn’t make reds with the restrained character of Bordeaux in most vintages or the more overt personality of Napa reds, particularly cabernet sauvignon.
The intrinsic character of Bolgheri wines today is clearly evident to tasters and drinkers, as many local winemakers seem to be cutting back on the late picking of their grapes and higher-alcohol wines as well as highly extractive fermentations and macerations. New wood barrels and casks for aging their wines are also on the decline.
Senior Editor Aldo Fiordelli and I came to these conclusions and others at the end of July in Bolgheri during a tasting of almost 200 wines, mostly from the 2021 and 2022 vintages. As expected, there are some terrific wines we rated from 2021, a cooler and later harvest than many recent years. The top wines have sleek and structured palates and plenty of blue fruits and freshness thanks to the harvesting of grapes in October.
Most winemakers in Bolgheri prefer 2021 to most other recent vintages. “It was a longer growing season, so it gave the vines time to develop the aromas and tannins in our reds,” commented Luca d’Attoma, the consulting enologist for Bolgheri estate Poggio al Tesoro as well as many other wineries around Tuscany.
The 2022 harvest was much hotter and earlier, making more fruit-forward wines with lots of red fruit character, but we were surprised by the freshness and drinkability of so many of the bottles. Alcohol levels also seemed lower than expected. I was worried that the wines might resemble those from the hot and dry vintage of 2020, when many wines were over-the-top and slightly jammy. But this was not the case in most instances.
“It was really hot, but you don’t see the impact of the year,” said Marco Balsimelli, the new technical director of Ornellaia and Masseto, who worked more than a decade in Bordeaux with one of the top enologists of the region, Eric Boissenot. “The wines remain really fresh.”
“We saw the change with the climate in these recent years and it is not just the heat,” he continued. “You have to adapt, so we did things in 2022 in the vineyard that we didn’t need to do in 2021 or 2023. The technique changes in the vineyard to combat the heat and dryness.”
THE UPSIDE OF 2023
We tasted a few wines from the 2023 vintage, which was difficult for many Tuscan areas because of intense attacks of mildew in vineyards that greatly reduced grape crops, but the many producers we spoke to in Bolgheri said that they were spared the problem for the most part. And the wines we tasted – both red and white – seem to be of excellent quality.
“We already hear how it is so hot, but we had more rain in 2023 than in the last 10 years,” said Lamberto Frescobaldi, the head of his family business that owns Ornellaia and Masseto as well as many other estates in Tuscany, accounting for thousands of hectares of vineyards.
With many 2023 whites in bottle, vermentino is really on a roll in Bolgheri, and it may be making the best wines from the white grape variety in Italy. Sure, you can find fresh and crisp vermentinos from so many areas in Italy that are wonderful to wash down fresh seafood with, but a number of the Bolgheri vermentinos have the depth and intensity as well as structure of top whites from the Northern Rhone. Many of them even resemble viognier in some ways.
Here are our best vermentinos not to miss: Poggio al Tesoro Vermentino Bolgheri Solosole 2023, Grattamacco Vermentino Bolgheri 2022, Campo al Pero Vermentino Bolgheri Attimo 2022 and Argentiera Vermentino Bolgheri Scenario 2022.
We were excited to find some experimentation and more focus on making earlier-drinking yet structured reds, with some cool fermentations with whole grape bunches as well as an array of fermentation and aging vessels – from various terracotta amphoras to ceramic and concrete vats, not to mention all the different types of wooden barrels and casks. The general concept, most winemakers said, was the pursuit of transparent and refined wines, which I wholeheartedly agree with.
“We work more on the nose and aromas of our wines than my father did in the past,” said Giacomo Satta, the winemaker and head of the Michele Satta winery, which was founded by his father. We also spent time in his vineyards, which are green, vigorous and organic, highlighting a more reserved viticulture.
“I tasted lots of wines with whole bunch and I really like the consistency that it gives wines, and I thought that my sangiovese and syrah reflected that,” Satta said. “I wanted to find my road and be very personal in that.”
Satta’s partially whole-cluster fermented sangiovese was really an eye-opener. And it was mostly amphora-fermented and aged. It was so crunchy and fresh with plenty of grape character and fresh stem undertones that it was hard not to finish the bottle during out tasting at the winery. He also makes an excellent whole-berry fermented syrah that highlights the excellence of the grape in Bolgheri.
One downside for producers in Bolgheri, however, may be the lack of a following of the appellation outside of Italy. Most admitted that the region has nowhere near the brand power of appellations such as Brunello di Montalcino, Barolo or even Amarone. Some lamented that it could be because in some places, such as North America, top wines from Bolgheri are still referred to as “Super Tuscan” wines, a phrase that I have been using as a wine critic since the late 1980s to describe top-quality reds from outside the normal appellations of Tuscany and made from mostly international grape varieties as well as sangiovese.
It also doesn’t help that the region is relatively small compared to other key appellations, with a closed dimension of about 600 hectares. The number of wineries is almost 70, but that is about four or five times smaller than Brunello di Montalcino, which is arguably Italy’s most popular fine wine region outside of the country.
“I was at tasting in New York recently and a wine salesman asked if our wine was made near Le Pergole Torte,” said one producer from Bolgheri. “I didn’t know what to say to him. That’s Chianti Classico!”
My appreciation continues for Bolgheri and its wines, and I think that if the drive for drinkability and local character in their wines continues, the region will soon be on the lips of many more wine drinkers in key markets all over the world.
“We really have strength in where we are,” said Luca Marrone, the winemaker of Grattamacco, one of the first wineries to be established in the region, planting vines in the late 1970s. “It’s the typicity of our soils and the closeness to the woods that help, as well as the Mediterranean. This is unique.”
– James Suckling, Editor/Chairman
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