Guado al Tasso: a story of self-confidence

Reviewing 25 years of Guado al Tasso, estate manager Renzo Cotarella explains how the success of Cabernet Franc in Bolgheri helped to move away from an early Australian-inspired style.

Renzo Cotarella

Speaking at a vertical tasting of the Marchesi Antinori-owned Super Tuscan, Cotarella demonstrated the changing style of Guado al Tasso as he recalled: “We were so influenced by the Australian idea in the 90s, that we had to have heavy, muscled, black wines.”

Extending this issue to Antinori’s other top Tuscan wines, he conceded: “In some vintages of Tignanello and Solaia we went too much ahead and made wines that were more large than lovely.”

By contrast, stressed Cotarella, who has worked for the Antinori family’s wine business since 1979, “today we want wines that are savoury – salty instead of sugary or buttery. We want drinkability but intensity and character too.”

One major change for the estate was the decision in 2007 to remove Syrah, which had previously accounted for around 10% of Guado al Tasso’s Cabernet Sauvignon/Merlot-based blend, replacing it with Cabernet Franc and a small amount of Petit Verdot.

“We planted Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot because they were already there at Sassicaia and Ornellaia,” explained Cotarella, referring to two of the biggest, most established Super Tuscan expressions. “We planted Syrah because we were affected by the Australian idea, and at the same time we wanted something that would give body with softer tannins.”

However, in 2003 the team decided to plant Cabernet Franc as well “in order to give some suppleness, some elegance,” explained Cotarella. “We already had Cabernet Franc at Solaia, but Cabernet Franc in central Tuscany is like another variety, it has a different character. In Bolgheri it’s much more ripe, more accessible with black notes but still alive.”

Comparing the temperament of this coastal influenced Guado al Tasso with Antinori’s other Super Tuscans from further inland, Cotarella suggested: “Tignanello and Solaia and not very chatty at first, but Guado al Tasso is much more open. It’s the place that makes the difference.”

Although conceding “we were a little concerned about removing Syrah because we didn’t want to lose that sweet approach”, he continued, “once we realised Cabernet Franc could have that sweet quality but with more elegance and more depth we were happy.”

As a result of this success with Cabernet Franc, the estate decided to create a 100% expression of this variety, releasing the first vintage of Matarrochio in 2007. Around 4,000 bottles were produced in 2013, but the challenging weather conditions of 2014 have meant there will be no Matarrochio from this year.

Far better news for Tuscany’s producers is the 2010 vintage already on the market, which has helped to boost Italy’s share of the fine wine market. However, Cotarella admitted that the Antinori team did not immediately recognise this as a great vintage in Bolgheri.

“2010 is a vintage where elegance takes advantage over power, but we were not immediately aware of that” he remarked. “To make 2010 was very difficult and we didn’t understand it was a great vintage because we thought the Cabernet Sauvignon did not have enough richness.”

Setting this against the context of Antinori’s steady shift in stylistic ambition, he suggested: “Twenty years ago 2010 would have been dismissed as a weak vintage because we were not able to appreciate finesse. In the 90s everyone was worried about anaemic wines because of the New World – that was the new frontier for everyone.”

On the challenge of seeking greatness through elegance rather than power, Cotarella commented: “It seems a much more simple wine, but it is not. Discreet wines are much more complicated – how do you talk about it? You need to acquire self-confidence, which is not easy.”

While the removal of Syrah represented a major change of direction for Guado al Tasso, Cotarella outlined a number of other steps that have also had an important influence on the wine’s character.

“We thought there were two types of maturity: sugar and phenolic,” he remarked. “But we found there is another type, flavour, so now we spend much more time tasting berries before the harvest. Most of our harvests are based on tasting.”

Once the grapes are in the winery, Cotarella highlighted some important shifts in vinification technique. “We extracted a bit too much, now we are more careful,” he commented. “We keep the must and skins longer but the method of extraction is very different. We don’t use a high temperature, we don’t do a lot of punching down and we use different shaped tanks. We pay much more attention to the extraction of tannins before and after crushing – that’s how to make a wine that is tasty without being heavy.”

Despite the presence of around 3% Petit Verdot in Guado al Tasso, Cotarella admitted, “I’m not a great fan of Petit Verdot myself. In some vintages you add some intensity to the end of the taste, but if it’s not ripe enough then it tends to be green and, secondly, it tends to be very high in pH and bitter.”

As a result, he continued, “it’s very hard to use in a great wine because it tastes of rubber. It’s really a variety that adds a certain backbone and it you are able to achieve a wine backbone then you don’t need it.”

For all the progress to-date, Cotarella maintained that the best is yet to come from Guado al Tasso. “To change our style has required a lot of time and I think we haven’t reached our best yet with our wines,” he remarked.

In terms of where future improvements might come, Cotarella observed: “A lot of our vineyards are quite young, 10 or 15 years old, so they require time to acquire intensity of the grapes.”

In addition, he noted, “We’re understanding better the character of the varieties, the timing of harvest, the pressing. We were convinced that in order to produce good grapes a vine has to suffer. It does have to suffer, but not too much. It’s like people – if you are stressed then you don’t have the clarity of focus.”

Cotarella also pointed to future work in the vineyard, saying: “The high density, 7-9,000 vines per hectare, is very negative. You have a concentration of heat and humidity because the wine doesn’t pass through the vineyard. There’s also rootstock that we have to look at – there are many things to think about.”

With production of Guado al Tasso currently standing at 10-12,000 cases, Cotarella noted that recent vintages have seen a decrease in quantity. Once again referring to Sassicaia and Ornellaia, he remarked: “We want to be at least at the same level, if not better, and to do that we need older vines and to select a lot. It’s not easy.”

Above all, Cotarella emphasised the ongoing learning curve for Antinori in understanding how to achieve the best possible results from Bolgheri, despite the family’s experience from over 600 years making wine in Tuscany.

“This is not a place where Antinori has made wine since whenever, it is not Tignanello,” he remarked. “A new vision is a passage through different vintages. Even if you have a new idea, you only have one vintage a year.”