A Unique Stage for Great Wines Amidst Hills and Sea

Bolgheri’s wine identity emerged when twentieth-century viticulture began responding to the area’s particular morphology and climate. Planting French vines challenged a local system centred on traditional Tuscan varieties and initially provoked scepticism among farmers.

Within Tenuta San Guido, hills protect the vineyards from north-easterly winter winds, while summer air passing through the valleys of the Cecina River cools the landscape. The sea reflects light and contributes humidity. Between 100 and 400 metres, calcareous, clayey, sandy and stony soils alternate. Stones reflect sunlight and are linked to the name Sassicaia, while manual harvesting brings the resulting fruit to the cellar.

Before the 1940s, local viticulture formed part of a largely subsistence rural economy based on varieties such as Sangiovese, Canaiolo and Trebbiano. Mario Incisa’s 1944 Cabernet Sauvignon planting opposed that convention. The wine remained a small family production until Giacomo Tachis helped develop its recognition during the 1970s.

The resulting success also reinforced the importance of protecting forests, wetlands, water and biodiversity. The Padule di Bolgheri Wildlife Refuge embodies the same link between cultivation and conservation. The continued preservation of woodland and coastal wetlands is treated as essential to the environmental system supporting Sassicaia, Guidalberto and Le Difese.