In the last forty years, Italian wine has achieved a qualitative upgrade on which few would have wagered. In the Sixties and Seventies only a handful of labels were exported and wine critics at home and abroad took little interest in Italian oenology. Since the early Eighties, the situation has changed dramatically with the birth of many new quality vintners who have contributed to the fame and fortune of Italian wine, to the extent that since 2009 the value of exports has exceeded that of domestic consumption.

In this highly encouraging setting, which promises even greater development, it is important, however, to have the proper historic perspective and know how to recognize the undeniable merit of those who focused on quality without exception, before it became a must. Perfect examples of that kind of farsightedness are two labels that have scaled the peaks of oenology worldwide; two wines that, among other things, also condense the traditions of two of the most important regions with regard to Italian oenology: Piedmont and Tuscany.

The former, which comes from the heart of the Langa’s Barolo district, Monforte d’Alba, is Barolo Monfortino Riserva. The winery that created it bears the name of its founder, Giacomo Conterno, born in 1895 in Tucuman, Argentina, but back in Italy by the beginning of the 20th century. On his return from World War I he decided to produce a wine that would only be made in the great vintage years, a product of lengthy fermentation, able to withstand the test of time: that is how he started to bottle his 1920 reserve and Monfortino was born. In the meantime, Giacomo’s family operated an inn, in addition to making wine and, during the years of the Italian Resistance Movement, provided aid and comfort to the Partisans. His most important label began to be known and respected, first in the main nearby cities, like Genoa and Turin, and later beyond the regional and national borders. The quality of this wine has entered the collective imagination by right, becoming nothing less than an icon, thanks to legendary years like 1947 and 1955. When in 1961, Giacomo left the winery in the hands of his heirs, his son Giovanni contributed to the planetary renown of the label and its most important wine. Monfortino continues to be produced only in the best years (which is why even recently vintages like 2003 and 2007 were omitted) and it is justly celebrated for its ability, which may very well be unique, to challenge the decades.

A wine like Bolgheri Superiore Sassicaia certainly needs no introduction. An icon of our time, from its first vintage on the market, 1968, it has surprised the world for the continuity of its quality and its extraordinary ability to evolve. The only Italian wine to coincide with an origin name, over the years Sassicaia has become, almost involuntarily, we would say, the paradigm of the perfect wine that for years hordes of entrepreneurs and enologists have sought to emulate, certain that they would succeed, but never coming more than close, at best. And yet the “recipe” for Sassicaia derives from the simplest, most basic skill of the farmer, that of observation. Indeed, it was the father of Niccolò Incisa della Rocchetta, Mario, who perceived the extreme vocation of the Bolgheri hills to wine-growing, which the Marquis decided to realize using a mixture of Bordeaux varietals. But it was not so much the decision to plant cabernet sauvignon and franc, or the use of the barrique, methods widely imitated by many other vintners in the years that followed, as much as a profound respect for the land and its microbiology, which characterized the work of Sassicaia’s founder, work that was fundamental to the creation of the legend that, in time, has been perfected and exalted by Niccolò and the enologist Giacomo Tachis.

By Giancarlo Gariglio - Curatore Slow Wine 2014