Tuscan wine
Amphora remnants originating in the region show that Tuscan wine was exported to southern Italy and Gaul as early as the 7th century BC.
This system took its name from the arrangement whereby the landowner provides the land and resources for planting in exchange for half ("mezza") of the yearly crop.
[2] The Arte dei Vinattieri guild established strict regulations on how the Florentine wine merchants could conduct business.
During this period Tuscan winemakers began experimenting with new techniques and invented the process of governo which helped to stabilize the wines and ferment the sugar content sufficiently to make them dry.
In 1685 the Tuscan author Francesco Redi wrote Bacco in Toscana, a 980-line poem describing the wines of Tuscany.
It was at this point that the statesman Bettino Ricasoli inherited his family ancestral estate in Broglio located in the heart of the Chianti Classico zone.
Determined to improve the estate, Ricasoli traveled throughout Germany and France, studying the grape varieties and viticultural practices.
In the 1850s Oidium Uncinula necator and war devastated most of Tuscany's vineyards with many peasant farmers leaving for other parts of Italy or to emigrate to the Americas.
The higher elevations also increase the diurnal temperature variation, helping the grapes maintain their balance of sugars and acidity as well as their aromatic qualities.
This is partly because the soil of Tuscany is very poor, and producers emphasize low yields and higher quality levels in their wine.
Other international varieties found in Tuscany include Cabernet franc, Chardonnay, Merlot, Pinot noir, Sauvignon blanc and Syrah.
Although an extraordinary number of wines claim to be “the first Super Tuscan,” most would agree that this credit belongs to Sassicaia, the brainchild of marchese Mario Incisa della Rocchetta, who planted Cabernet Sauvignon at his Tenuta San Guido estate in Bolgheri back in 1944.
[7] The marchese Piero Antinori was one of the first to create a "Chianti-style" wine that ignored the DOC regulations, releasing a 1971 Sangiovese-Cabernet Sauvignon blend known as Tignanello in 1978.
Rather than rely on name recognition of the Chianti region, the Super Tuscan producers sought to create a wine brand that would be recognizable on its own merits by consumers.
By the late 1980s, the trend of creating high-quality non-DOC wines had spread to other regions of Tuscany, as well as Piedmont and Veneto.
[8] The Brunello variety of Sangiovese seems to flourish in this terroir, ripening easily and consistently producing wines of deep color, extract, richness with full bodies and good balance of tannins.
In the mid-19th century, a local farmer named Clemente Santi is believed to have isolated the Brunello clone and planted it in this region.
Brunellos tend to be very tight and tannic in their youth, needing at least a decade or two before they start to soften with wines from excellent vintages having the potential to do well past 50 years.
Today Carmignano has approximately 270 acres (110 ha) planted, producing nearly 71,500 US gallons (271,000 L) of DOCG designated wine a year.
The native varieties Canaiolo and Colorino are also permitted, as are the international classics, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, to a limited degree.
The terroir of the Classico zone varies throughout the region depending on the vineyards' altitude, soil type and distance from the Arno River.
[13] The DOC Bolgheri region of the Livorno province is home to one of the original Super Tuscan wines Sassicaia, first made in 1944 produced by the marchesi Incisa della Rochetta, cousin of the Antinori family.
The DOC Bolgheri region is also home to the Super Tuscan wine Ornellaia which was featured in the film Mondovino as well as Tignanello from Marchesi Antinori.
Traditionally Canaiolo and Mammolo make up the remaining part of the blend but some producers have begun to experiment with Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot.
[10] In Etruscan times, Valdichiana, an area which presently stretches along the Southeastern part of Tuscany up to the Florence-Rome road ramification, was called the "Breadbasket of Etruria".
This was a vine growing culture spreading over the hills of the Tuscan part of Valdichiana surrounding the important commercial centres of Foiano della Chiana, Lucignano, Cortona, Montepulciano and Arezzo.
The wine making tradition was enriched and endorsed in the late 1960s and early 1970s with the DOC guarantee of origin recognition thanks to the effort of few noble families such as Della Stufa (Castello del Calcione, Lucignano) and Mancini Griffoli (Fattoria Santa Vittoria,[15] Pozzo della Chiana).
Maremma is also home to Tuscany's newest DOCG, Morellino di Scansano, which makes a fragrant, dry Sangiovese based wine.
The province of Grosseto is one of Tuscany's emerging wine regions with eight DOC designations, half of which were created in the late 1990s.
It includes the Monteregio di Massa Marittima region which has been recently the recipient of foreign investment in the area's wine, especially by "flying winemakers".
