Italian wine tells the world about beauty as the fruit of the relationship between man and nature

If there is a cantor of the beauty of nature, it is Giosuè Carducci. To the great poet, the first Italian to receive the Nobel Prize for Literature, in 1906, is inextricably linked Bolgheri, among the most prestigious wine territories in the world, whose symbol is the Viale dei Cipressi “che a Bólgheri alti e schietti van da San Guido in duplice filar”: an Italian national monument, commissioned in the 19th century by Count Guido Alberto della Gherardesca, to whom we owe the choice of the cypress trees, beautiful, but above all practical because it was motivated by the fact that the buffalo ate all the other plants (as recounted many times, to WineNews, by Gaddo della Gherardesca, a descendant of the historic family to whose family tree belong such figures as Count Ugolino, for whom “più che ‘l dolor poté ‘l digiuno”, the protagonist of one of the most famous cantos of Dante’s “Divine Comedy”, and who also planted the first vineyards, beginning to export the wines throughout Europe), it is Carducci’s verses in the poem “Davanti San Guido” that have made this Avenue the most famous in the world. A “synaesthesia” of the beauty, of goodness, of nature, the one concocted by human ingenuity, which Italian wine recounts with “Bolgheri DiVino” 2024, the “en primeur” of the new vintages of the Doc Bolgheri and Doc Bolgheri Sassicaia appellations desired by the Consortium led by Albiera Antinori, president Marchesi Antinori, the historic family of winemakers for 26 generations, with a scenic “Dinner of the Thousand” in the Avenue, with guests at a long table of more than 1 km (tomorrow, September 4), but which is also an opportunity on the part of the Bolgheri brands to meet with collectors, wine merchants and media at their Estates as well.
“Bolgheri DiVino” 2024 is the event that, this year, celebrates the anniversary No. 30 of the appellation and presents the latest vintages of Bolgheri Superiore 2021 and Bolgheri Rosso 2022, awaiting the release of the first examples of the 2023 vintage this September. The 2021 vintage was, undoubtedly, one of the greatest in Bolgheri’s history, allowing it to perfectly express the unique depth, finesse and elegance of the terroir. The Bolgheri Rosso 2022s show non-excessive alcohol degrees and excellent levels of acidity, ensuring the freshness typical of the appellation. For 2023, on the other hand, whose first Bolgheri Rosso will be released in September, there is great satisfaction from producers for the balance and harmony that has been achieved. A year, 2023, in which bottled production totaled 6.7 million bottles, by the 74 producers of the Consortium, whose vineyards account for 99% of the total 1,365 hectares, with almost all of the wineries in the area carrying out all stages of production, from the vineyard to bottling.
Companies that, on this occasion, also open the doors of their Estates (with reserved events, by invitation only, ed.), as Ornellaia will do, with Lamberto Frescobaldi, at the head of the Group, for a smart casual “barbecue dinner” in the gardens of the Estate, or the Moretti Cuseri family, in the Orma vineyard, hosting master pizza maker Franco Pepe, for a tasting of gourmet pizza and historic vintages of Orma; from Caccia Al Piano of the Franciacorta Ziliani family, for a visit to the “Terre Rare” contemporary art exhibition on the links between the languages of art and the winemaking process; to Tenuta Argentiera, celebrating a quarter-century with a sensory experience between wine, the music of Saturnino, one of Italy’s greatest bassists and longtime collaborator with Jovanotti, and the artisanal typography of Martina Vincenti, a.k.a. La Tipografia Toscana, which showcases the magical printing process, and to Marilisa Allegrini at Poggio al Tesoro, with a walk through the estate’s vineyards, and a tasting by the sea in the legendary starred restaurant “La Pineta” of the young and talented Andrea and Daniele Zazzeri. But not only.
What is certain is that, once again, Bolgheri will display a perfect synthesis of Italian beauty of which wine is a “medium” to tell the world about it. And “when we are interested in the beauty of something - in the words of the great English art critic John Ruskin - the more often we see it, the better”.