Biography
Things began to move at the Castello del Terriccio in 1975 when Gian Annibale Rossi di Medelana inherited the property. It is a very large estate with a castle, a hamlet, and many country farmhouses situated in a magnificent position in the hills of Castellina Marittima, a township on the shore of the Tyrrhenian Sea just a few miles away from Bolgheri. Rossi inherited the property from his great-uncle Serafini Ferri, who had taken in hand the estate in the first years after the Second World War, dedicating his time and energy to the cultivation of cereals; Rossi instead began to modify the crops, planting a part of the property to vineyards. Vineyards which were carefully planned and prepared before planting (with high vine density and limited production per vine) and only after a careful analysis of soil and climate. Studies which revealed that, just like nearby Bolgheri, there were real affinities with Bordeaux. Accordingly international varieties such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Petit Verdot substituted the local Sangiovese and Trebbiano and were an authentic revolution for Castellina Marittima. An idea and an inspiration which proved to be winning choices. The first wines were produced in 1986 and began immediately to interest both the media and connoisseurs. Lupicaia is the symbol of Terriccio, a classic Bordeaux blend (Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and a touch of Petit Verdot); the Merlot and Cabernet are aged separately in barrique for 18 months and then, just as in Bordeaux, blended together in percentages which vary from year to year. The blend serves to bring out the maximum potential of the vintage and creates the possibility of producing, each year, a perfectly balanced wine, intense, supple, and, above all, long-lived. A wine which has won much recognition and many awards on an international scale. Another wine, named Castello del Terriccio, began to be produced in 2000 and is a blend of Syrah (another non-local variety which has given excellent results at Terriccio), Merlot, and other grapes. A wine which is complex, dense, and very spicy. Tassinaia rounds out the range, a Sangiovese with Merlot and PetitVerdot. But Terriccio is not solely a red wine estate, as its Rondinaia, a suave and balanced Chardonnay, demonstrates.