The Real Story Behind Super Tuscan Wines

The idea of Super Tuscan wine isn’t new, but it sparked a revolution during the 1970s that changed the face of Italian wine forever.

Let's get a handle on Super Tuscan wines including the history, some classic examples, and how to identify them on the label.

What's a Super Tuscan Wine?

Super Tuscan is the colloquial term for a Tuscan wine that includes non-traditional grapes. For example, a Tuscan wine made with Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot instead of the region's primary grape, Sangiovese.

Super Tuscan wines commonly blend these wine varieties:

• Cabernet Sauvignon
• Cabernet Franc
• Sangiovese
• Merlot
• Syrah

Yes, Super Tuscans include French grapes! But how did these grapes get into Tuscany?

French Grapes Arrive in Tuscany

French grapes have been growing in Tuscany as early as 1945. Our earliest known record of this is at Tenuta San Guido.

After the war, Mario Incisa della Rocchetta and his wife Clarice came back to re-establish their Bolgheri estate. Mario was inspired by Bordeaux's gravelly vineyards and he planted Sassicaia or "land of many stones" with Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc.

The 1968 vintage of Sassicaia is considered to be one of the first Super Tuscan wines.

A 20-Year Battle For Recognition

1971 marked the vintage when Antinori's Tignanello ("tee-nah-nello"), a wine that should have been a Chianti Classico Riserva, was declassified to Vino da Tavola – Italy's lowest wine quality tier. Tignanello was declassified because it included 15% Cabernet.

Even with a lowly Vino da Tavola classification, the wines gained attention and popularity worldwide.

The wine critic, Robert Parker, famously gave the 1985 vintage Sassacaia a 100-point score and said, "the most impressive wine I had encountered in my entire 37-year career."

Finally in 1994, the Italian government approved the creation of Bolgheri DOC and Toscana IGT in 1995. These two new classifications were a way to acknowledge Super Tuscan wine on the label.

How to Identify a Super Tuscan Wine

Super Tuscan wines are typically "named wines" as in, they use a made-up name. This is the winey's way of telling you it's a proprietary blend or single-varietal wine.

Super Tuscans use one of the following four official classifications:

• Toscana IGT - The most common way to classify a Super Tuscan.
• Maremma Toscana DOC - A regional Super Tuscan wine from the Southern part of Tuscany.
• Bolgheri DOC - From the small, coastal Bolgheri region.
• Bolgheri Sassicaia DOC - Fun fact, this is the only DOC given to a single estate.

Why Are They Called "Super Tuscans?"

We asked wine critic, James Suckling, where the term originated.

He said it might have come from a several sources including the famed Luigi Veronelli, an Italian wine/food writer and intellectual, or from Burton Anderson, a writer who moved to Tuscany in 1977 to write about its bright future, or it could have been David Gleave, a Master of Wine and one of the UK’s leading experts on Italy.

Regardless of who coined the phrase, producers in Italy were turning heads, making wines that didn’t fit in!

Notes on Italian Wine Pronunciation

Here's how to pronounce the following relevant Italian and Latin words:

Vino da Tavola: Tav-o-la Summus: Soo-mus Magna Cum Laude: Magna-Coom-Loud-a