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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