“DECANTER” HAS ELECTED GIACOMO TACHIS “MAN OF THE YEAR 2011”. THE “FATHER OF ITALIAN WINE” AND ONE OF THE TOP ITALIAN ENOLOGISTS, IS THE THIRD ITALIAN (AFTER PIERO ANTINORI AND ANGELO GAJA) TO RECEIVE THE AWARD FROM THE TOP BRITISH MAGAZINE

Giacomo Tachis is one of the greatest Italian enologists of all time, the technical manager for Marchesi Antinori for over thirty years, renowned for having created the world famous Super Tuscans Sassicaia, Tignanello and Solaia, the “Father of Italian wine” and the guiding light of the “renaissance” of Italian wines in the 70s and 80s.

And now, “Decanter” has proclaimed him “man of the year 2011”. He is the third Italian to receive this award from the esteemed British magazine, after Piero Antinori (1986) and Angelo Gaja (1998). Tachis left the wine world and retired to private life in 2010. In his last issue in April he said, ”modern wine producers should take off their signature ties and go back to the vineyards”…

Tachis, who is now 77 years old, “is part of that small, select group that changed the face of Italian wine”, writes Richard Baudains of Decanter. It all started in 1961 when Giacomo Tachis came to the Antinori winery in San Casciano in Tuscany, first as an enologist, then the technical manager. The turning point that confirmed his reputation as an innovator came in 1968 at the San Guido Estate in Bolgheri, where he contributed to the creation of a new wine, Sassicaia.
He played a leading role in the production of Italian wine for 5 decades, contributing to the introduction of practices that are the basis of high quality Italian wines: high density clone selection, low yield vineyards, introducing malolactic fermentation and aging in small wooden barrels, But, he is most famous for introducing Cabernet Sauvignon and other Bordeaux varieties into the original Super Tuscans: Sassicaia, Tignanello and Solaia. “It was a period that marked a new era”, says Baudains, recalling the moment when Sassicaia arrived at the top of the Decanter Cabernet tasting in 1978, and the words of Hugh Johnson, guru of the wine world, who said “its place in the history of wine is due to, first and above all, the dream come true of superlative Tuscan wines”. The eminent enologist Tachis considers the Bordeaux enologist Emile Peynaud one of his heroes while Baudains makes it clear that “his (Tachis) sense of identity is firmly and fundamentally Italian”.

He is one of the great winemakers, and although now retired, still has a deep interest in the future of wine. For instance, he has openly declared his opposition to the modern obsession with high prices. “Wine producers need to take off their Hermès ties and drive cars more suited to vineyards than highways,” Tachis says, “consumers have become increasingly aware that high prices do not necessarily mean high quality”.



Focus - Decanter: “Men (and Women) of the Year 1984-2010”

2010 Aubert de Villaine - Burgundy

2009 Nicolas Catena - Mendoza, Argentina

2008 Christian Moueix - Pomerol

2007 Anthony Barton - Bordeaux

2006 Marcel Guigal - Rhône

2005 Ernst Loosen - Mosel

2004 Brian Croser - Adelaide Hills

2003 Jean-Michel Cazes - Bordeaux

2002 Miguel Torres - Penedès

2001 Jean-Claude Rouzaud - Champagne

2000 Paul Draper - California

1999 Jancis Robinson MW - London

1998 Angelo Gaja - Piedmont

1997 Len Evans, OBE AO-Australia

1996 Georg Riedel - Austria

1995 Hugh Johnson - London

1994 May-Eliane de Lencquesaing - Bordeaux

1993 Michael Broadbent - London

1992 André Tchelistcheff - California

1991 José Ignacio Domecq - Jerez

1990 Prof Emile Peynaud - Bordeaux

1989 Robert Mondavi - California

1988 Max Schubert - Australia

1987 Alexis Lichine - Bordeaux

1986 Marchese Piero Antinori - Florence

1985 Laura and Corinne Mentzelopoulos – Bordeaux

1984 Serge Hochar - Lebanon