The Marquises Incisa della Rocchetta are among the protagonists of Italian history, from the early Middle Ages to the dawn of the Baroque age and beyond. Mario Incisa della Rocchetta was born in Rome in 1889 into a Piedmontese family, studied agriculture in Pisa and immediately cultivated a strong inclination for agronomy, with the dream, already in the 1920s, of finding perfection in agriculture and respecting Earth.
He moved to Maremma in the 1940s after marrying Clarice della Gherardesca in 1930, a descendant of one of the oldest families in Tuscany, that of Count Ugolino sung by Dante in the Divine Comedy. The Marquis immediately understood that it was one of the most extraordinary biotypes of Mediterranean Europe and began to experiment with some French vines, concluding that cabernet, in fact so far from the Tuscan and Piedmontese tradition of Sangiovese and Nebbiolo respectively, “has the bouquet I was looking for.”
This is how, thanks to the first scions received from the Salviati Dukes of Migliarino (near Pisa), also he planted the first cabernet sauvignon vineyard in the land that slopes down from the Castiglioncello fortress to the sea, in the early 1940s. We know , in reality, that alongside cabernet (sauvignon and franc), the vines used in the first planting were various and ranged from canaiolo to ciliegiolo to white grape vines. The mass selection, oriented towards the sole use of cabernet sauvignon, arrived in a more recent era between 1960 and 1968.
Mario had sensed an extraordinary similarity between his lands in Bolgheri and the Graves region in Bordeaux, due to a mainly gravelly and pebbly soil, mixed with clay, very favorable for the production of great reds. From 1945 to 1967 Sassicaia remained a strictly private product, reserved for family and friends. The first vintage to appear on the market was 1968.
The ancient and splendid land that Clarice della Gherardesca receives as an inheritance is a Mediterranean park stretching between the hill of the hermitage-fortress of Castiglioncello and the coast of dunes and marshes.
A 2,500 hectare property in the heart of Maremma which extends over an area of 13 kilometers from the hill to the sea and runs along the famous cypress avenue.
The soils, partially clayey, located at an altitude between 60 and 400 meters above sea level, with exposure to the west/southwest, show different and composite morphological characteristics, with a strong presence of limestone areas rich in alberese, of gabbro and stones.
The climate has its own peculiarity: the embrace of hills that extends from Bibbona to Castagneto protects the vineyards and olive groves from north-east winds, while in summer this corridor is refreshed by sea breezes. The energy and light of the sun is reflected on the sea, irradiating the hills which in turn retain the sea breeze and generate refreshing humidity. The woods, dense and uncontaminated, constitute an extraordinary natural lung. This is the microclimate that characterizes Tenuta San Guido An area that deserves its own appellation: DOC Bolgheri Sassicaia.
This isn’t just tasting good wine, is creating good memories.
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