Poggio al Tesoro - 10 Years / 2002 - 2012

1 Act I / Poggio al Tesoro in the Spotlight

2 Act I / Poggio al Tesoro in the Spotlight

4 Act I / Poggio al Tesoro in the Spotlight Index Act I Poggio al Tesoro in the Spotlight Scene I Prologue Scene II The Discovery Scene III Success Scene IV 10 Years ago Act II Poggio al Tesoro, Nature and the Elements Scene I Nature Scene II Earth Scene III Fire Scene IV Water Scene V Air Act III Poggio al Tesoro, the Men and the Women Epilogue Poggio al Tesoro, the Playbill 7 7 13 19 27 41 42 46 54 64 72 79 113

6 7 Dedicated to Walter Allegrini, winemaker.

8 Act I / Poggio al Tesoro in the Spotlight Act I – Poggio al Tesoro in the Spotlight Scene I – Prologue

10 Act I / Poggio al Tesoro in the Spotlight 11 Act I / Poggio al Tesoro in the Spotlight What drives a producer of wine with deep roots in his home territory, intimately tied to his historic grape varieties, with a profound intimacy with the aromas and flavors which he has known his entire life to leave home in search of an entirely new territory to discover, a different soil to cultivate, new grapes to grow, new tastes to master in order to seduce and be seduced? It is a mystery wrapped in the deepest mists of irrationality, seasoned with the evanescence of our dreams, by secret ambitions, by atavistic premonitions; difficult, accordingly, to rationally explain, to the point that we ourselves will not attempt to explain it. What we, instead, shall do is to let ourselves be seduced by the irrational and by dreams in order to tell this story. We shall attempt to recount it in a way which is so novelistic and simulated that it will become more real than the reality itself. Indeed, as though it were easy to describe reality, as though it were easy to establish what is real and what is imaginary, what is partial, what is clear, what is imaginary and what is the truth. Through which and how many mediations of experience, of culture, of human sensibility do we succeed, on occasion, in finding an interpretive key, the true explanation, only later to be unexpectedly and unpredictably proven wrong by a foolish, insignificant, vulgar, vapid banality? In a second’s time everything collapses, the entire sand castle which we have constructed piece by piece gives way, implodes, and disintegrates leaving nothing behind. And then welcome to arbitrariness, fiction, invention because, at that point, our falsities will be truer than so-called reality. It’s theater, the theater of life. That described by Miguel de Cervantes in his Don Quixote de la Mancha: “the scepters and the crowns of emperors are but tin and tinsel”. Yet for a few minutes before our eyes there is a real emperor with a real crown and scepter and we listen to him, we watch him, and we take him to be a real sovereign. This story as well will perhaps be decorated with tin and tinsel, but not for this will it be less real, less anguished, less fascinating, less inspiring than many another story with the pretext of telling us the truth. the story is called poggio al tesoro and it celebrates it’s tenth anniversary. Poggio al Tesoro in the Spotlight prologue Act I Scene I On the right: The Via Bolgherese vineyard and, in the background, the Hermitage of Castiglioncello Next pages: Le Sondraie and the Fossa Camilla creek

12 Act I / Poggio al Tesoro in the Spotlight 13 Act I / Poggio al Tesoro in the Spotlight

14 Act I / Poggio al Tesoro in the Spotlight Act I – Poggio al Tesoro in the Spotlight Scene II – The Discovery

16 Act I / Poggio al Tesoro in the Spotlight 17 Act I / Poggio al Tesoro in the Spotlight It was the first week of June 2005 and as in that period of every year, I found myself in the bright, white tasting room of the Producers’ Consortium of the Bolgheri appellation. At the time a facility shared with the offices of the Wine Roads of the Etruscan Coast in Bolgheri, right in front of the San Guido estate at the point where the world’s most famous cypress-lined boulevard begins. I tasted happily and serenely the various wines of the 2003 vintage in Bolgheri: first the DOC (appellation) wines and then the IGT (Typical Geographical Indication) offerings. I finished with great pleasure the round of appellation wines and began the series of IGTs, first the simpler ones and then the richer and more substantial bottles until the moment when, with six glasses in front of me, I perceived that quality was at the highest possible level and began to hypothesize certain well known and renowned labels of the zone until I finally found myself, amazed, before the fourth or fifth glass; I was certain that I did not know the wine, couldn’t give it a name, i.e. place a label, an identity, some sort of recognition. But in the apparent silence of a summer day, barely interrupted by the rustling of the breeze, by the buzz of insects and of far away motors, with a tone of voice that I myself did not expect, I exclaimed almost with a roar: superb!!! Fabio Cartei, the sommelier who was assisting, stuck his head of the kitchen to peer into the tasting room, smiling and satisfied: knowing me well, he expected a reaction of that sort from me. It was the Dedicato a Walter IGT Toscana 2003 from a debut estate, Poggio al Tesoro. In the Guida Oro “I Vini di Veronelli 2006”, the guide to Italian wine founded by Italy’s pioneering wine journalist, Luigi Veronelli, the wine was immediately awarded the sun The Guide’s highest honor. Poggio al Tesoro in the Spotlight the discovery Act I Scene II On the right: The Le Sondraie vineyard, the oak tree dedicated to Walter Next pages: View of the vineyard Le Grottine with the church of San Giuseppe

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20 Act I / Poggio al Tesoro in the Spotlight Act I – Poggio al Tesoro in the Spotlight Scene III - Success

22 Act I / Poggio al Tesoro in the Spotlight 23 Act I / Poggio al Tesoro in the Spotlight The first time I heard about Bolgheri, apart from the poetry of Giosuè Carducci, it was from Piermario Meletti Cavallari, the first true restaurateur I was to know, my first and truest teacher in the field of wine. He came from the world of business, of marketing and communication, but his passion for wine drew him to open, in Bergamo Alto, the upper city of Bergamo, the first modern wine shop/ bistro: “Vino Buono” - “good wine” - read the sign which he had had painted by Geremia, paid with free glasses of wine. In 1977 he closed the shop and said that he was going to move to Tuscany to produce wine; he said that he had found a home in Bolgheri, a lovely spot near the sea and added that a Marquis who raised horses had just recently released an excellent wine called Sassicaia. He was certain that it would become famous, that wine, and promised that so would his wine, Grattamacco. And he was not wrong. At that time only Luigi Veronelli, Italy’s first true wine critic, knew of Bolgheri and Sassicaia; I, penniless as I was, had to wait for the 1980’s to sample a bottle with friends. Poggio al Tesoro in the Spotlight success Act I Scene III On the right: Olive trees, an integral part of the Bolgheri landscape Next pages: Cabernet Franc vines for Dedicato a Walter (planted in 1994) The first time that I heard about the Allegrini firm was at the Seminario veronelli with Francesco Allegrini, its director at the time. One morning, at nine o’clock sharp, a blind tasting of Amarone della Valpolicella, around twenty bottles, perhaps a few more, from different vintages. Two stood out from the rest: quite different and at the opposite extremes, Quintarelli and Allegrini. The first all jam and sweetness, dried flowers in an infusion, mature and way ahead in its evolution, the second concentrated and ripe in its fruit, with notes of violets and candied fruit, sweet spices, and licorice, rigorous and flawless in style. But how can someone choose between them when both are so fine, even though for exactly opposite reasons.? Quite simple: I fell in love with both. And still today, after both houses have taught the Valpolicella how to make wine, the “Allegrini style” is still perfectly recognizable, to the point that I feel it as an intimate, a familiar memory, something impossible to forget, just like the things you learn as child and remain inside you for the rest of your life.

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26 Act I / Poggio al Tesoro in the Spotlight 27 Act I / Poggio al Tesoro in the Spotlight The first time I heard that the Allegrini family had purchased an estate down in Bolgheri I almost did not believe it. It struck me as quite strange that a firm so strongly rooted in its own territory could afford the luxury of a distraction away from its home base, its own appellation, its own personal history and sense of belonging. villa giona, a Bordeaux blend which they had begun to produce in a vineyard in San Pietro in Cariano had already seemed to me something strange and anomalous, even if, to tell the truth, the wine was very good indeed. The vineyard, planted very densely, at ten thousand vines per hectare, a production of little more than a half a kilogram per plant, oak barrels for the aging and mostly new: in short, they had truly done things in the proper fashion. But to pass from the province of Verona, however, to Tuscany’s Etruscan coast seemed a very big jump indeed, even a somewhat risky one given the modest results obtained by the majority of producers who had migrated to a region as seductive, but at the same time as challenging, as tuscany. There are always exceptions, but at times they bear names so prestigious and influential as to be embarrassing. On the left: Le Sondraie: panorama

28 Act I / Poggio al Tesoro in the Spotlight Act I – Poggio al Tesoro in the Spotlight Scene IV – 10 Years ago

30 Act I / Poggio al Tesoro in the Spotlight 31 Act I / Poggio al Tesoro in the Spotlight Yes, ten years have passed since that moment when the Allegrini family - Marilisa, Walter, and Franco began to question themselves about their future and that of their estate; better, that of their estates as they had already, in that period, started experimenting with grape varieties which would be suitable for a larger international market. Nothing which might obscure the splendor or integrity of their valpolicella wines, but perhaps the first signal that their territory, their traditions, their province had begun to hem them in, limit their ambitions, their dreams, their aspirations. And then, one day, there were the first hints of other territories, a mention in passing of a trip which a colleague had made, a very good wine that someone had spoken about tasting. One idea leads to another and soon, slowly but surely, a first hypothesis begins to take shape, the possibility that the Valpolicella firm might be joined by another viticultural experience in another territory, in a different region. Walter and Marilisa are the most enthusiastic about the idea because Franco is a man of his cellars, always there to look after his wines, to taste them, to virtually caress and spoil them and feels no need to diversify his work. But Walter and Marilisa frequently turn again to the question, their unrest constantly increases and at times becomes so intense as to take away the breath and leave their mouths dry. Marilisa is consumed by ambition, wishes to put herself to the test, wants to try something totally new and totally different compared to her own past and the family traditions. Walter, instead, wishes to put himself to the test in a new area, a new zone, a different reality, is fascinated by the attraction of other regions, other appellations, other environments, seeks to challenge the entire world, wants to open himself to other influences, new tests to confront openly and courageously. One fine day Walter and Marilisa simply depart, the Valpolicella harvest is over and they have left Franco in the cellars to take care of the final fermentations, to see that the malolactic fermentations begin smoothly, to give a glance every so often at the grapes being dried for the Amarone and Recioto wines. After so much discussion, so many hypotheses, so many mirages they are headed for Tuscany; they had in mind a name which at that time appeared to become a sort of promised land for Tuscan producers. Many other houses, many other men and women were already moving in that direction and “the Allegrini family” did not wish to lose the opportunity, miss the train. They reached Scansano, then Manciano, and pushed as far as Roccalbenga, moving from the highest and steepest hills to the lowest and most rolling, to the place where the Maremma and the Tyrrhenian Sea are already a felt presence. Lovely hills, lovely as well the vineyards, the landscape is wide and luminous, even captivating, but no sparks are set of for either of the two. They taste the wines, the many wines of the Maremma, from Morellino di Scansano to the many IGTs made with international grape varieties, Cabernet and Syrah for the most part. Here as well: nice wines, some more elegant, others more powerful but not always with the maximum finesse. And, just as in the case of the landscape and vineyards, no sparks are set off, something has remained blocked and does not meet the expectations of Marilisa and Walter. This is not the Eldorado they had imagined. They depart again, with a demoralized ache in their stomach and a certain tightness in their throats. Courage, hope has to be kept up. “We are going to find what we’ re looking for even if heaven should fall and until we find it we are not going home!” They return to the Aurelia coastal highway heading north, the sea is on the left, then goes out of sight as they pass the Parco del’Uccellina in the Maremma, then comes back into sight near Follonica, and moves away they go past the isthmus of Piombino. But at San Vincenzo the sea returns once again, and further ahead the hills to the right move away, leaving space for the pine forests which extends as far as Cecina. Once past the Hotel Bambolo at the crossroads for Castagneto Carducci, vineyards begin to appear on the right and, just afterwards, a road sign halts them, instinctively: bolgheri. The car turns to the right and cruises up the famous cypress-lined boulevard, the longest, the most photographed, the most praised and sung in Italian poetry, four kilometers in length. Four kilometers of rises and dips which demonstrate that this is not a plain. Five minutes of craned necks, of searching glances, of a slight anxiety which rises in the chest, which troubles the two until they arrive at the gate which leads to the village of Bolgheri, with, one after another, a series Poggio al Tesoro in the Spotlight 10 years ago Act I Scene IV Next pages: The sky and earth of Valle di Cerbaia

32 Act I / Poggio al Tesoro in the Spotlight 33 Act I / Poggio al Tesoro in the Spotlight

34 Act I / Poggio al Tesoro in the Spotlight 35 Act I / Poggio al Tesoro in the Spotlight of wine shops, wine bars, small restaurants. There are many people seated at their tables, many look at the bottles, others walk about in the small streets of the village. The bottles carry prestigious names, those which everyone has in mind, dreams of tasting, wishes to take home as do their wooden shipping cases, with the same names branded in fire. Logical to think that by now sparks have begun to be set off and Marilisa and Walter are not yet completely aware of it. They turn back onto the boulevard towards the sea and, on the left, the bolgherese road begins, the road which doubles back towards Castagneto Carducci and cuts through the vineyards of Bolgheri, the loveliest of all from Sassicaia to Ornellaia and then onwards up to the crossroads with the road which rises towards Castagneto Carducci and, to the left, goes all the way to the Hotel Bambolo. They have made the complete tour without realizing it. They now turn back to observe more carefully. The automobile slows down to read the signs, the names, the vineyards, the houses, the gates. They are all there, all the important names, those praised by the wine magazines of the entire world, those in a prominent place in the auctions of Rome, London, New York, and Los Angeles. By now there is a certain breathlessness, emotion has begun to take over, faces have become slightly red, the palms of the hands are slightly sweaty, hearts are beating fast. The car passes through that green tunnel on the Bolgherese road, a tunnel made up of boughs and leaves of the cork oaks, of ilex, of durmast, another European oak. They return to Bolgheri to taste some wines. ‘”Walter, taste this, take a look at that, let’s try that one over there”. By now the sparks have truly been set off. There are no more doubts. The choice has been made, the decision taken. They will race back to Verona to talk things over with Franco. This is the most difficult moment, they must talk to their accountant, the banks, their attorney, and to the notary. Everyone has something to say, some counsel to offer: “be careful of that ….”; “check things out …”; “don’t trust …”; “keep in mind that ….”; “you can expect that ….”; “make sure that ….”; “they told me that ….”; “a friend heard that ….”. Doubts begin to appear, as do the problems, the difficulties, the perplexities, the uncertainties. On the right: The arch of holm-oaks on Via Bolgherese

36 Act I / Poggio al Tesoro in the Spotlight 37 Act I / Poggio al Tesoro in the Spotlight They begin to ask if all that they recall is real or merely the fruit of overheated memories due to the excitement of the moment. And time does not pass: they would like to put the problems behind them, to be on the other side of the obstacles, but instead the finish line is still far away, once surmounted with difficulty, more doubts appear, other complications, more and more difficult to overcome. Enough, enough already. They return to Bolgheri, they meet with a middle man, a deal maker who has worked up and down the entire Tyrrhenian coast from Pisa to Piombino. Houses, land, businesses, vineyards, and olive groves. He knows everyone and knows who wants to buy and who wants to sell, at what price one can buy or sell, both above and below the Bolgherese road. Marilisa and Walter listen to him carefully. There are a couple of possibilities to be investigated more thoroughly, then there is still another one, very attractive but perhaps more complicated and which requires a certain dose of patience and diplomacy. The first step is see a vineyard on the bolgherese road in a spot called Felciaino: there are seven hectares of land with a stone farmhouse and a shed for agricultural machinery and tools. The vineyard, three and half hectares (almost nine acres), is very attractive, well cultivated and maintained, planted in 1994 with nine thousand vines per hectare of Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc. The rest of the terrain hosts nice rows of olive trees. A hundred meters away there is another plot called le grottine, once again seven hectares in size because this was the unit farmed by sharecroppers forty to fifty years ago. Here there is no house but only a small church, bare and simple, dedicated to Saint Joseph. There are no vines, but the olive groves which must be maintained in place delimits fields sown to cereals and vegetables. It is calculated that on this bare ground four and a half hectares (over eleven acres) of vines could be planted, bringing the total to eight hectares, some twenty acres. Not a whole lot, but a good starting point, when there is already a functioning vineyard in production, available immediately. But this is not enough, it is not sufficient to satisfy Walter’s curiosity and expectations, he has a more ambitious project in mind, more important and significant. The search must go on. And at that point the middleman pulls another name out “... By now there is a certain breathlessness, emotion has begun to take over, faces have become slightly red, the palms of the hands are slightly sweaty, hearts are beating fast. ...” “... They begin to ask if all that they recall is real or merely the fruit of overheated memories due to the excitement of the moment. ...”

38 Act I / Poggio al Tesoro in the Spotlight 39 Act I / Poggio al Tesoro in the Spotlight of his pocket: le sondraie. It is a property in the northernmost part of the production zone of the Bolgheri appellation. It isn’t particularly large, but it is surrounded by a host of smallholdings planted to vegetables. It will be necessary to meet their cultivators one by one, and make each of them an offer because, together, their holdings would amount to some fifty hectares, 125 acres, all in one block. And a bit beyond Le Sondraie, in the township of Bibbona, another ten hectares of vineyards could be purchased for alternative projects, for production and experimentation not bound by the rules of the Bolgheri appellation. In Walter’s head a truly major project has begun to take shape, but a burdensome one as well, but this does not frighten the Allegrini family, their origins as cultivators has taught them that land is a stable good, solid, lasting in time, something in which one can invest with confidence and trust. All that is needed is the head, ideas and a powerful capacity for hard work in order to create ambitious projects and scrupulously carry them out. The wheels and begun to turn and by then cannot be stopped, no difficulty, no mishap, no obstacle can put it into question. All the rest would follow: bureaucratic formalities, notarial acts similar to neighborhood assemblies, analyses of the soil, a project for a cellar, much studied and worked over, vineyards to be planted, wines to be defined, genetic material – the vines themselves – selected, the personnel hired, an outside partner found, a sales network developed, and so on and so forth down to the final details. And in the end Franco will become fully involved, and with him Leonardo Lo Cascio, the historic importer of the Allegrini wines in the United States. Fully aware of being surrounded by illustrious names and eager to emulate them, to confront legends and challenge them to a duel with a minimal sense of inferiority, but rather armed with pride in their frank and shameless vitality. Only one thing does not work out. A banal and hateful detail does not function and does not allow us to fully rejoice in the creation of Poggio al Tesoro. Earthly life abandoned Walter Allegrini and he was never able to see his greatest dream realized. this book is dedicated to walter, because the earth of poggio al tesoro is permeated with walter. On the left: Walter Allegrini Next pages: The vineyard and farmhouse of Poggio del Tesoro on Via Bolgherese

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42 Act II / Poggio al Tesoro, Nature and the Elements 43 Act II / Poggio al Tesoro, Nature and the Elements Act II – Poggio al Tesoro, Nature and the Elements

44 Act II / Poggio al Tesoro, Nature and the Elements 45 Act II / Poggio al Tesoro, Nature and the Elements We would have liked to recount the elements of nature just as they are treated in Greek mythology; we would have liked to recount them to you in the order of importance according to which first place is conceded to the sun, represented by Zeus, then earth, impersonated by Hera, then by air, expressed by Idoneo, and finally by water, personified by Nesti, even if mythology is far from unanimous in confronting these personages: at times the roles of Hera and Idoneo are inverted. I will attempt, therefore, to deal with the four elements in an order which is closer to our mentality and culture, in the way Luigi Veronelli taught us: we shall begin with Earth (yes, earth, earth, to the nth power) which we consider the primal element and which we are best equipped to describe because it is always at the center of our research on the origins and identity of wines. We shall then proceed to Fire, to Water, and finally to Air. Always firm in our desire to seek technical and scientific data, but ready, as well, to be collect and be influenced by art, by poetry, and by culture. In short, in our way of operating. We shall begin with Earth... and we shall then proceed to Fire, to Water, and finally to Air. Poggio al Tesoro, Nature and the Elements nature Act II Scene I EARTH Terra WATER Acqua FIRE Fuoco AIR Aria Act II Scene II Act II Scene III Act II Scene IV Act II Scene V Next pages: Merlot planted in 2003, the first planting at Poggio al Tesoro

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48 Act II / Poggio al Tesoro, Nature and the Elements 49 Act II / Poggio al Tesoro, Nature and the Elements EARTH Terra When you arrive in Bolgheri and begin to move along its most famous roads, the celebrated cypress-lined boulevard, the shady and evocative Bolgherese road, you realize that this is not flat terrain but rather a continuous series of terraces, rises, and declivities which, from the hills to the east, slope gradually and sweetly towards the sea. And if you move attentively along all these roads, the color of its soil will never surprise you because it will gradually shade from a yellowish hue to a tint like tan, like the drop of coffee which has stained your milk in the morning, and then become browner and then redder and then brown again when you approach the hills of Castiglioncello. And it is here that the extraordinary viticultural adventure of this terrain began, was transformed, in a few decades, from an ordinary, even unhealthy spot due to malaria-carrying mosquitoes, to a celebrated, desired, and sought after one. A magic place which has given a sense to human efforts, which has repaid, quite abundantly, their toil; earth which mixes and amalgamates soils distant and opposed to one another, from the land and from the sea, creating a unique and original mixture of elements. Above: The poor, stony ground at Le Grottine… On the left: … and the clayey ground at Le Sondraie Act II Scene II

50 Act II / Poggio al Tesoro, Nature and the Elements 51 Act II / Poggio al Tesoro, Nature and the Elements We shall now attempt to describe and explain these soils in terms of their origin and as well, the use that cultivators of grapes make of them. We shall do so attempting, as far as possible, to avoid the technical language of geologists, who are extremely able in describing things in a way only they can understand. At times precision and a few details may be missing, but the overall sense, as we will see, will be clearly legible. We must go far back in time, when the Italian peninsula collided with Europe and, after provoking the lifting up of the Alpine chain, continued to push northwards, giving rise to a more southerly second chain which has been given the name of Alloctono Ligure. These mountainous reliefs, which still today constitute the Apennines of the Liguria region of Italy’s northwest, have extended southwards in a discontinuous and less imposing (in terms of altitude) way as far as the Colline Metallifere, the metal-rich hills in the center-west of Tuscany and to the soils of the so-called Tuscan Series near the city of Piombino. All of this occurred in the upper Cenozoic age, between the Miocene and Pliocene epochs which, in plainer terms, means between twenty and two million years ago. From that moment, so to speak, sediments of various origin have begun to be deposited on these soils and at times have buried, at other times stirred up, the soils from Liguria, which from sea level, mount onto hillsides which rise as high as two hundred meters (650 feet) above sea level. Positioned with our backs to the sea, the landscape which we can observe is constituted by a hillside area dominated by the outcroppings of Ligurian soil and by two distinctive surfaces at a lower altitude composed principally of sediment from the more recent Pliocene epoch. Their higher surfaces, between 35 and 130 meters (115-430 feet) of altitude, prevalently covered by vineyards, olive groves, and, occasionally, woods , are formed by what are called Bolgheri conglomerates, soils of fluvial origin, deeply eroded and molded first by the accumulation of red sands from the Gori valley, and therefore of continental origin, and shaped by winds which constantly blew during the Pliocene epoch. Lower-lying areas, between 20 and 35 meters above sea level, principally occupied by vineyards, but also by olive groves and grain fields, is constituted by mixed sediments of colluvial origin, i.e. formed by climatic factors, including cataclysms, glaciers, and floods, and as well by winds and waters which had stagnated after flooding. Together they form the Sand of the Donoratico area, reddish-orange in color and, in certain zones, by sharp or, when shaped by continuous washing from rivers or streams rounded gravel. Along the coastal strip, the accumulation of sand continued until the successive period known as the Holocene, and at this point we are talking about less than a million years ago. Homo Erectus had become Homo Sapiens, and winds, along with both ordinary and unusual climatic phases, had continuously formed dunes near the sea, flattened enormous terraces, and pushed up step-like rises and banks while the slow but constant erosion from the hillsides brought grains of clay to lower-lying areas and raised up sand and clay formations of PaleoceneEocene origin from the sub-surface. To talk about Bolgheri soils, therefore, means to express a very vague concept, one which instead is diversified and variable, which the recent zoning of the appellation has attempted to describe and circumscribe in numerous Landscape Units. Each with its own specific characteristics which make them more suitable for certain grape varieties rather than others so that every capable cultivator can know what kind of soil he will be working in order to be able to plan a vineyard with a high-level quality potential, a character and personality derived from that interaction between variety and environment: what is normally called terroir. The Allegrini family, first of all Walter Allegrini, had to reckon with this data in order to discover what was advisable to do, where they were to plant and what they had to grow in order to obtain maximum quality results. Accordingly, let us seek to understand, vineyard by vineyard, the soil which lies beneath their feet and what they needed to plant and cultivate above it. The first nucleus belonging to Poggio al Tesoro is constituted by two vineyards located to the east of the Bolgherese road; the first, to the north, takes its name from the road and the second is called Le Grottine. The soils are very similar as they are virtually contiguous, and are composed of the reddish-orange sands of Donoratico with gravel form the upper Pliocene epoch along with the reddish sands of the Gori valley. They are the so-caked finesse soils, which benefit more powerful and muscular varieties, adding elegance, grace, and class. Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and a good percentage of Petit Verdot have found

52 Act II / Poggio al Tesoro, Nature and the Elements 53 Act II / Poggio al Tesoro, Nature and the Elements a home in these vineyards. The second and largest nucleus is constituted by Le Sondraie which, given its large extension, necessarily has a larger soil variability; here in fact, in the vineyards closer to the hills, we find the Bolgheri conglomerates of the middle Pleistocene epoch with gravel of varying sizes and a certain presence of calcareous elements as well, though these are not homogeneously distributed. In the lower part we find again the reddish Gori valley sands along with both conglomerates of sand and limestone and, nearer the Camilla ditch which is bounded by a strip of trees, large areas of sand and gravel from the middle Pleistocene epoch. It is obvious that these soils are suitable for different varieties precisely on the basis of their differing origin and composition, and accordingly the grapes of the various plots are different as well. In fact, in the areas with more calcareous clays Merlot has been planted, as this variety, one for more elegant wines, finds in these soils the power and force which are necessary for its finest expressions. Syrah and Vermentino, likewise, succeed in putting on aromatic weight and much structure. The sandier soils, as we have seen, are utilized here for powerful varieties such as the two Cabernets and a bit of Petit Verdot. There is, however, a third nucleus located outside the township limits of Castagneto Carducci: we are dealing here with the Valle di Cerbia vineyard, in the neighboring township of Bibbona, which is situated on two different levels. The higher part is composed of Pleistocene-epoch soils with the fine-grained sands previously examined, which could only host, as well, the two types of Cabernet, while in the lower part, with fresher and more calcareous soils, Viognier has been planted in order to take advantage of the temperature swings between daytime heat and evening and nighttime coolness caused, in part, by a neighboring wooded area. Much hard work was invested on the part of the Allegrini family, first Walter and then Marilisa, along with all the technical assistance which they involved in the project in order to give a certain logic and order to parcels which had to be first acquired and then planted in an systematic, rational, and informed way. There was much work to do as well for Era, goddess of the earth, in order to match up all these details, insignificant if taken one by one but decisive taken as a whole. But these soils needed to warmed, illuminated, given joy and vitality. And what else could be utilized if not Fire? On the right: The old vines in the loose sandy soil on Via Bolgherese Next pages: Cabernet Franc planted in 2005 at Le Grottine

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56 Act II / Poggio al Tesoro, Nature and the Elements 57 Act II / Poggio al Tesoro, Nature and the Elements FIRE Fuoco When you arrive in Bolgheri the sun has already made its force felt, its power, and its energy. It lies in waiting for you a few kilometers before in order to introduce you little by little to this unique and unusual environment. It is a complex and complicated reality to understand because it is necessary to put into place that series of factors which are only to be found here. We would have preferred not to speak of sums of temperatures of climatic indexes which fill pages and pages of magazines or brochures, but I fear that we are going to be obliged to do so, even if what interests us is what the sun transmits to this corner of Tuscany which is more the qualitative than the quantitative aspect. Accordingly, let us immediately take the bull by the horns and talk about climatic indexes: Winkler’s, which measures the sum of average temperatures above 10° centigrade (50° Fahrenheit) from April 1st to September 30th, substantially speaking those which are useful to the physiological functioning of the vine, and Huglin’s, which measures, the sum of the average temperatures, which are then added to the sum of maximum temperatures from 10° to 35° centigrade (50°-95° Fahrenheit) during the same period. Act II Scene III

58 Act II / Poggio al Tesoro, Nature and the Elements 59 Act II / Poggio al Tesoro, Nature and the Elements What these two indexes tell us is that there is nothing extraordinary about Bolgheri. There is the same heat that we find in the Barolo appellation, which is one degree in latitude more to the north, or at Montpellier, which is more degree more to the south. But it is significantly warmer than in Bordeaux, and this is a figure which is very interesting and which we will cite further on. As far as the rest of the world is concerned, Bolgheri has the same temperature sums as Stellenbosch in South Africa, an area which is also near the sea, and accordingly we will discuss this as well. The temperatures of Bolgheri interest us above all because they help us to better understand what happened towards the end of the 20th century and what is now happening in these first years of the new millennium. During the last half of the previous century it became clear that the climate, warm but not excessively so, led to excellent ripening for the Bordeaux varieties planted during that period, Cabernet Sauvignon and, more marginally, Cabernet Franc and Merlot, due to the higher temperatures which Bolgheri enjoyed compared to Bordeaux. With the progressive rise in temperatures due to the well known problems of worldwide pollution of the environment, the cultivators of Bolgheri realized that it would be possible, at that point, to give a larger importance to other varieties than the classic ones. They turned with greater conviction to Cabernet Franc, which ripens better at these temperatures, losing a bit of its herbaceous or even vegetal character, and even Petit Verdot, another Bordeaux grape which ripens with some difficulty in its home territory but which is now giving surprising results. And, in addition, to two grapes of the Rhône river valley, Syrah, a red grape, and Viognier, a white which requires warm temperatures, comparable to those of their native Côte Rôtie. But if the temperatures of Bolgheri are shared with many other places, what is that allows this zone to produce unique and inimitable wines if not its extraordinary light? When you are at Bolgheri you can see the line of shadows delineated in the air and on the ground as though we were situated in one of metaphysical painting of Giorgio De Chirico with his piazzas in place of vineyards, the monuments instead of the lines of trees, the walls replaced by the rows of vines. The colors stand out clearly and maintain a clean and sharp outline, without smudges or halos. Just like the light of On the left: Row-end training posts in the Via Bolgherese vineyard Next pages: The cork-oak at Le Sondraie: detail

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62 Act II / Poggio al Tesoro, Nature and the Elements 63 Act II / Poggio al Tesoro, Nature and the Elements Bolgheri, real and unreal at the same time. And light is the fundamental element for the vine and all the other plants; without it there would not be photosynthesis and chlorophyll, that perpetual miracle which transforms the energy of light to chemical energy. The terrain of Bolgheri receives an extraordinary quantity of light, difficult to measure but common to those few areas near the sea because its water, never motionless, continually reflects a very large quantity of solar rays, amplify their intensity, diffuse their brightness. And this is so in those few parts of the world where great wine is produced: Bordeaux in France, Stellenbosch in South Africa, Napa Valley in the United States. Wherever we find a powerful luminosity, grapes need to defend their vital chlorophyll by synthesizing a large quantity of chemical substances called norisoprenoides. These compounds are then transformed by the fermentation and aging of the wines into a myriad of substances with complicated and virtually unpronounceable names which give Bolgheri’s reds those formidable mineral notes which are the unique and exclusive property of the greatest of wines and are much appreciated by consumers of the entire world because they confer an immediately recognizable style, personality, and class. How hard Zeus had to work to create so exceptional a situation as this! But we must call into play something else because if we wish to always have this amount and quality of light we need the sea, we need water. On the right: Petit Verdot from le Grottine planted in 2006 Next pages: Nature and the surrounding landscape at Le Sondraie

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66 Act II / Poggio al Tesoro, Nature and the Elements 67 Act II / Poggio al Tesoro, Nature and the Elements WATER Acqua When you arrive in Bolgheri you become immediately aware that the water is near and, in fact, the sea is there, just beyond, behind the pine groves which line the Aurelia high way and the railroad tracks. You immediately sense its presence because the sky is always bluer here, only rarely do clouds appear, and your eyes never find obstacles and interruptions but always more and finer light. The sea is not there, however, merely to give a stronger and sharper light, because it is an enormous reservoir which transmits and regulates the temperature of the entire seacoast. During the summer it captures the heat of the sun, subtracting it from the interior terrain, preventing temperatures from rising becoming torrid, while during the winter it gives warmth back to the soil, preventing it from becoming too cold and harming the flora and fauna which make this landscape of this place unique, incomparable, and sublime. The sea is also capable of influencing the rains which will bathe the soil of Bolgheri: the quantity, the intensity, and the period in which it will follow. Let us immediately state that little rain falls on Bolgheri, less than half than the Italian national average, approximately 60 centimeters (24 inches) annually, 60% during the winter and a mere 40% during the spring and summer months. Act II Scene IV

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70 Act II / Poggio al Tesoro, Nature and the Elements 71 Act II / Poggio al Tesoro, Nature and the Elements To be more precise, there are eighty days in which its rains, thirty five – very few indeed – in this warmer period. This semester also includes a certain amount of spring rain, and if we limited ourselves to rainfall during the three sole months of summer the total would be less than 10 centimeters (four inches). The larger part of the summer storms born in the Tyrrhenian Sea, finding no obstacles in their path, run rapidly through the Bolgheri skies, and unload their water over the Tuscan interior. These simple statistics tell us that there are few cloudy days, there is a greater luminosity, and that this scarce rainfall, as a result of the prevalently sandy soils, penetrates rapidly into the ground without evaporation during the following days, a phenomenon which principally involves soil strata closer to the surface insofar as the deeper strata are able to almost entirely conserve the water which has fallen. Little water falls, but almost all of it is available to the vines when they will need it as their roots, in this soil, penetrate very far underground. The large amount of water in the sea influences and regulates the small amount of water which falls on Bolgheri, favoring the role of Nesti – the nymph whose tears, accordingly to mythology, supplies the water of springs and fountains - in the wines of Bolgheri. But the sea and its water are also capable of moistening the air as well, moving it continuously in all different directions. Previous pages: Cabernet Sauvignon planted in 2004, the second year of planting Next pages: Oasis in Bolgheri

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74 Act II / Poggio al Tesoro, Nature and the Elements 75 Act II / Poggio al Tesoro, Nature and the Elements AIR Aria When you arrive in Bolgheri you look around and begin to perceive that the air is never still, that even in the quietest of days there is the sensation that something envelops you and accompanies you in the streets, in the vineyards, all the way up to the entrance to the cellars. In Bolgheri the air is always in movement because it is pushed by varying forces. The most important, because continuous and tireless, is the sea with its daytime and nighttime breezes. During the night the cooler air from the hillsides flows towards the valley floors and then moves westward towards the sea, pressing down on the waves and leaving the surface flat and immobile; for this reason we find a morning sea calm and flat. But then, as the sun rises, in a short space of time the ground air begin to warm up and rise, leaving space for the fresh air currents form the sea to move eastwards, towards the terra firma, drying the morning dew but bringing with a bit of humidity which will condense during the night, bringing freshness and relief to the leaves of the vines. This play of daytime heat and nighttime freshness is providential for the vines because it will allow the berries to the grapes to accumulate fragrance without losing it to a continuous and extreme daytime heat. Act II Scene V

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78 Act II / Poggio al Tesoro, Nature and the Elements 79 Act II / Poggio al Tesoro, Nature and the Elements In addition to the local breezes there are others generated by Atlantic storms and by low pressure systems in the Tyrrhenian Sea, which give rise to wind at times of powerful intensity, but of limited duration: both the “libeccio” (from Libya) often followed by the mistral from the northwest. But these winds, even when of low intensity, move, in prevalence, from the Elba corridor, i.e. that arm of the sea between the promontories of the island of Elba and the peaks of the metal-rich inland hills. This corridor favors the flow towards Bolgheri of warm or temperate southern winds and shortens the transit of cold northern currents. But, if we wished to consider the importance of the Elba corridor in all of its aspects, we would need to go back in time to the Pliocene epoch when, for almost a million years, south winds blew and carried reddish brown sands from North Africa, from the Sahara desert, towards the Atlantic. These sands, brought by the winds to the entire Tyrrhenian coast, were scattered over the interior, while the sand which moved through the Elba corridor was trapped and deposited at the feet of the long chain of hills above Bolgheri, thereby creating a unique and incomparable environment. Even the God of the winds, therefore, had a lot to do with the creation of the soil and terrain of Bolgheri, and only now, with this wine, have we come to realize how important this exceptional phenomenon was. But then, even with the four elements of Nature, with or without divine intervention, the human factor was necessary to transform Bolgheri from a lovely spot, rich in landscape, history, art, and culture to a formidable place for the creation of great wine. However, the men and women will speak for themselves, tell their own tale. Let us hear them. Gigi Brozzoni Previous pages: Breeze and light on Via Bolgherese On the right: The Poggio al Tesoro farmhouse

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82 Act III / Poggio al Tesoro, the Men and the Women 83 Act III / Poggio al Tesoro, the Men and the Women The tall, straight cypresses of Bolgheri Move from San Guide in double file, Like giant stripling at a race they go, Bounding to meet and gaze on me. No, fear not, we are not about to yield to the most banal of clichés. Certainly, it is obvious, what could be easier or more practical? We are at Bolgheri, all we have to do is quote Carducci, Italy’s early twentieth century Nobel-prize winning poet, whose poem about the double row of cypresses lining the wide boulevard of the San Guido estate, at the very entranceway to the town, is known to every Italian schoolchild and that does the trick. The image is a suggestive one, erudite to the proper extent, sufficient to evoke a poetic atmosphere and childhood memories. But no, it is impossible. We cannot take such an easy way out. The story of Poggio al Tesoro is not, and must not be, something banal because Bolgheri itself is not, and cannot be, a banal place. Accordingly, if we must give in and cite something learned, let us indeed cite Carudcci but not the nostalgic and melancholy poet of “Davanti a San Guido”, but a more youthful and combative poem written ten years earlier. To you, of all being the first cause immense, Of matter and spirit, Reason and sense, It is curious that the succeeding strophes of this vigorous hymn appear virtually to be a perfect description of the specific environment and characteristics which, almost a century later, would make Bolgheri a paradise of modern viticulture; While in the goblet the wine sparkles, just as the soul through the eye’s pupil shines. While the sun and the earth continue to smile, exchanging sweet words of love, And a quiver of mystic marriage flows from the mountains and caresses the fertile plain; Above and beyond these premonitory verses, which truly appear to photograph, with total precision and clarity that genius loci, that spirit of the place so well described by Gigi Brozzoni in the preceding pages, this hymn however, seems particularly appropriate to evoke that special atmosphere which, from the very beginning, has presided over the birth of the myth of Bolgheri. Over the creation of that special set of circumstances which has inspired the most voluble, but also, in our opinion, the most significant element in any terroir of real excellence, men and their determination. It is a hymn to Progress, to the Modern Age and, with them, to that Rationality which is a pre-condition to both. And yet, paradoxically, it is one of the most instinctive, visceral, and passionate poems which ever flowed from the pen, normally somewhat stiff and formal, of Carducci’... Passion and Reason, therefore, the two qualities which spurred Marquis Mario Incisa della Rochetta to literally invent, with his Sassicaia, the terroir of Bolgheri, the ties and links, the secret affinities and connections, which up until then were hidden Poggio al Tesoro the Men and the Women Act III Previous pages: Marilisa, Silvia and Franco Allegrini Next pages: The road named Viale dei Cipressi

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86 Act III / Poggio al Tesoro, the Men and the Women 87 Act III / Poggio al Tesoro, the Men and the Women and only something potential, began a tradition of modernity, experimentation, fantasy, and visionary capacity. Ten years ago, the Allegrini as well launched themselves, without fear of twisting and hanging in space, free of orthodoxies, prejudices, and preconceptions, with Passion and Reason, into a project for a new and original interpretation of the territory of Bolgheri. A historical family of the Valpolicella, the Allegrini were inspired by these premises when they were seeking a new territory in which to operate. «The idea of seeking a new project outside of the Valpolicella – recounts Marilisa Allegrini – was born from a desire to find a zone which represented a challenge for us. The Valpolicella was an historic area, one with a solid and rooted traditions. We did not wish to move into another territory of established tradition both because we did not wish to interfere with or disturb an established local equilibrium and because we did not want to be conditioned in our ideas or sensations. Bolgheri, in this sense, represented a balanced compromise: it is, by now, a zone of well established excellence and accordingly correspondeds to our quality, but does not possess so long established a viticultural history as to deny us the possibility of working with complete freedom, allowing us to adapt our own experience to the characteristics in an original way in order to create something new and distinctive. In the Valpolicella we inherited winery, and along with it, a solid and well constructed family tradition. In Bolgheri, instead, everything had to be created from scratch: the land to plant had to be found, a name to be chosen, the grape varieties to be selected for the vineyards; there was even the necessity of discovering what type of wine to produce given that particular local environment, and what production philosophy to adopt. The creative part of the project was, for me, the most stimulating one. Bolgheri, on the other hand, fully matched our firm’s style in its desire to create high level wines which fully express their territory. The use of international varieties is no obstacle to this ambition as, in this particular corner of the Tuscan Maremma, these grapes take on a personality of their own, a unique one which cannot be replicated or reproduced elsewhere, a true “Bolgheri imprinting” characterized by a refined elegance. Was Walter Allegrini – together with his sister Marilisa – the true architect of and inspiration behind the Poggio al Tesoro project even if, unfortunately, he was not given sufficient time to see his dream fully realized. He was the first to perceive the grand potential which Bolgheri offered to his family’s ambitions, to sense the exceptional characteristics of the spot, ones which made its wines completely different from those produced even in surrounding areas. His daughter Silvia evokes his enthusiasm, his passion: «My father was an extremely genuine person, one who communicated more by empathy than with words. He had an incredible ability to transmit his deepest love, for the earth, a passion which he demonstrated not only in his work but also in all that he loved to do in life, things which were always connected to the soil, to the landscape, to nature. From the first visits, inspection tours to size up Bolgheri, it was immediately clear that he nourished an enthusiasm for this new venture which he had never shown for other projects. He wanted to immerge himself in that spot, to learn to know it as profoundly as possible, in every minimal detail; for him it was like the discovery of a new world, not merely in a viticultural sense but also in terms of the landscape, the environment, even the local culture. I recall that even after a very few visits, he already knew everyone in town and everything about the town. Above: Marilisa Allegrini Above: Silvia Allegrini

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