What makes a Tuscan super?

Italians (especially Tuscans) will tell you that the Tuscan dialect is the purest form of Italian. The Super Tuscan wine story is perhaps the purest expression of the journey that Italian wine has taken these past five decades.

Tuscany is a place of poets and aristocrats. This once-feudal region is characterised by large and established estates, their hills topped with cypress and ravishing old castelli.

The climate is broadly Mediterranean, with hot, sunny summers and occasionally abrupt autumns. Tuscany is known for its poor soils and quite considerable hills: the best vineyards are on slopes at altitudes of 150 metres and above. Reds, whites and sweeties are all made.

There is an ancient winemaking tradition here, with many native varieties and long-established vineyards. The region’s singular character, importance and influence in wine terms is reflected in this venerable history and the established awareness of both the region, and its classic wines.

Sangiovese is the main red grape of Tuscany, and the principle ingredient of household names (and officially classified DOCGs) such as Chianti Classico and Brunello di Montalcino. Malvasia is the white variety behind the sweet and superb Vin Santo, a style not restricted to but perfected in Tuscany. The traditional varieties for dry whites are Trebbiano, Malvasia and the potentially excellent Vermentino.

For all this history and heritage, these are not the wines that made Tuscany Super.

There is no official definition of a “Super Tuscan”, and no system for classification or control of the term, which was coined and popularised by wine writers, and importers, rather than producers. Yet this group of wines is responsible for the greatest quality revolution in Italian wine history, and for turbo-charging awareness and fame for the region, and arguably for Italian wine in general.

Mediocracy was enshrined in Italy’s DOC regulations of the 1960s. You could hardly make an exceptional, age-worthy Chianti Classico even if you wanted to. Well, not if you wanted to keep within the law. The principle of protecting ‘traditional practices’ contained in the DOC regulations effectively meant protecting the exigent and high-volume practices of post-war Italian wine production. High yields, the mandatory inclusion of white grapes in red wines, and the preponderance of old, grubby large oak were among the causes. Chianti producers were caught in a vicious circle of reduced demand and lower prices perpetuating increasingly poorer quality and dilute, green, grubby wines. 

And so, in the 1970s, came a rebellion. If the DOC would not allow producers in Tuscany to make their best wine, they would step out of the DOC. Better to make a great wine and label it as humble Vino da Tavola than continue to make indifferent wine from a DOC whose quality potential had been betrayed.  Piero Antinori was one of the pioneers, with the now iconic red, Tignanello. Its foundation was single-vineyard Sangiovese, but blended with Cabernets Sauvignon and Franc and aged in new French oak. Here was a wine of depth, body, longevity and plush seriousness. It was ‘super’ and ‘tuscan’ in the sense that ‘super’ is a ‘man’. Tignanello was a Tuscan wine that drew on a traditional Italian wine style, but expressed it with more power and complexity, not to mention a French accent. The renowned Sangiovese based Le Pergole Torte is another example of Super Tuscan as rebellion, as is Antinori’s other great wine, Solaia.

But Tuscan producers also innovated where there was no DOC to rebel against, in spotting the potential of Bolgheri in the Maremma to the south. This sea-side part of Tuscany is warmer, sunnier and gentler than the Chianti and Brunello heartland. Here, Sangiovese can be picked reliably riper than further north, and the Maremma had a long history as a source of friendly, spicy, satisfying Sangiovese – Morellino di Scansano is an (increasingly good) example. Yet it was the classic Bordeaux varieties of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet France and Merlot that won recognition for Bolgheri, in the form of glossy, scented, age-worthy wines such as Sassicaia, Grattamacco and Ornellaia.

Some have lamented the spread of international varieties and new French oak at the expense of indigenous grapes and practices. I am not one of them.  It is true that not all producers in Tuscany get the balance right. But the quality of and recognition for Tuscan wines, including the more ‘traditional’ styles, has never been higher. And while the prices of the most famous Super Tuscans are undeniably 'blingy', their example has inspired a generation of aspiring producers to make sleek, glossy reds at more accessible prices. (For a cracking example, see this offer for Montepeloso's A Quo on our main site.) At their best, Super Tuscans capture the energy and gutsy allure of Italy and the refined elegance of France. To me, they are the sexiest of fine reds, with flesh and scent disciplined by firm, fine tannin. These are not weak imitations of Bordeaux. They are inimitably themselves.

We should also not forget the boldness behind their creation. Super Tuscans were once defined by being outside the official system. This was the only way in which they were able to innovate for quality. Their legacy is best exemplified in the changes to the once moribund Italian wine laws, which they undoubtedly galvanised for change. Bolgheri how has its own DOC – a recognition of its affinity for the ‘Bordeaux’ varieties. The Chianti Classico DOCG laws have also been changed to accommodate many of the innovations of the 1970s. Tignanello, however, continues to sit outside, wearing proudly its history as the rebel who changed the system.