Image Up Advertising & Design

| OHCC LIVING | AUGUST 2022 | 17 Sassicaia – The first Super Tuscan wine In the 1920s, the Marchese Mario Incisa Della Rocchetta dreamt of creating a 'thoroughbred' wine and for him, as for all the aristocracy of the time, the ideal was Bordeaux. In the 1940s, having settled with his wife Clarice on the Tenuta San Guido on the Tyrrhenian coast, he experimented with several French grape varieties (whose cuttings he had recovered from the estate of the Dukes Salviati in Migliarino) and concluded that the Cabernet had "the bouquet I was looking for." A wine made mainly from Cabernet Sauvignon was a fundamental change to the Tuscan and Piedmont tradition of Sangiovese and Nebbiolo, respectively. The innovative decision to plant this variety at Tenuta San Guido was partly due to the similarity Mario Incisa had noted between Tuscan terrain and that of Graves in Bordeaux. 'Graves', or 'gravel' in French refers to the rocky terrain which distinguishes the Bordeaux area; similarly, the gravely vineyard sites in Tuscany impart the same characteristics on Sassicaia, "stony ground", as its cherished French brother. The Marchese's first vintages were not warmly received. Critics accustomed to light, local wines were not encouraging; it was not taken into consideration that wines made from the more complex Cabernet Sauvignon grape would need more time to mature and develop. And thus from 1948 to 1967, Sassicaia remained a strictly private affair, only to be consumed at Tenuta San Guido. Each year, a few cases were stored to age in the Castiglioncello di Bolgheri cellar. The Marchese realized that by ageing the wine, it improved considerably. Friends and relatives urged Mario Incisa to experiment further with his project and perfect his revolutionary winemaking style. It was not until 1968 that Sassicaia was first commercially released. In 1994, Sassicaia was granted its own DOC (Bolgheri Sassicaia DOC), the only wine from a single estate in Italy to enjoy this privilege. Before that, like wines made outside the traditional DOC/DOCG regulations, Sassicaia was classified as an Indicazione geografica tipica (IGT). Sources: Tenuta San Guido website and a MasterClass article. A bottle of Sassicaia will set you back $250 or more but Costco carries a Kirkland Signature Toscana for $13.99 and Total Wine & More has Ruffino Modus Rosso Toscana for $24.99. Wine Tasting Club Genealogy Interest Group The Genealogy Interest Group is a growing group of individuals who want to find out about their heritage and their ancestry. Curiosity about those who came before and formed us is important. The group provides tools to do your research and help in getting started. For the experienced, we can offer suggestions to break through the brick walls of past generations. Meeting with others looking in the same geographical areas is a great help. We have both Apple computers and PCs. All sessions can be seen on the TAG calendar. We are happy to offer the World Explorer version of Ancestry.com free of charge in the Computer Room. This program would cost an individual about $100 a month. We also offer the Family Tree Maker on several of the computers in the lab. A family tree can be started and compiled with either or both of these programs with many hints to assist in your research. Coordinators are Dorothy Miller and Peggy Singh. Contact us at rootsatOHCC@gmail.com.

• Cover