In the 1970s, on the Tuscan coast at Bolgheri, a handful of estates planted Bordeaux grapes and made wines that broke every Italian rule — no Sangiovese, no DOC, just Cabernet and Merlot of world-class quality. Sassicaia and its followers, dubbed "Super Tuscans", forced Italy to rewrite its wine laws and redrew the country's fine-wine map.
The warm maritime climate and gravelly soils give ripe, polished, cedary reds that marry Bordeaux structure with Mediterranean warmth. Bolgheri is now a denomination in its own right and one of Italy's most prestigious — and priciest — red-wine addresses.