L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2016 www.italoamericano.org 18 L'Italo-Americano Giacomo Tachis, Remembrance of the Italian Wine Legend O n Saturday February 6th, 2016 the Italian wine w o r l d l o s t a l e g e n d . Giacomo Tachis, a legendary enologist and consultant to many Italian wineries throughout Italy, passed away in his hometown of San Casciano in the Val di Pesa o f T u s c a n y a t t h e a g e o f 8 2 years old. Throughout his life he advised, produced, and in s a m e c a s e s c o - o w n e d , m a n y Italian wineries providing the keys to winemaking success. G i a c o m o w a s b o r n i n Piedmont in 1933. He graduat- ed from the Enological School o f A l b a i n P i e d m o n t . H e worked for some local wineries and distilleries in Bologna, but it wasn't until 1961 when he really kick started his wine career. He began working as a junior oenol- ogist at the San Casciano estate o f t h e A n t i n o r i f a m i l y i n Tuscany working with the owner Piero Antinori and his father Niccolò. His aim was to increase the quality of production at the San Casciano estate at a time when Tuscany was flooded with the image of lower quality, high quantity chianti wines. He rose through the ranks and worked w i t h t h e A n t i n o r i f a m i l y a s Wine Director until 1992. Upon leaving there he began consult- ing with wineries in many other wine regions within Italy. G i a c o m o i s k n o w n a s t h e "father of Italian wine" starting t h e I t a l i a n w i n e r e n a i s s a n c e through his many developments and ideas he introduced to be u s e d i n w i n e p r o d u c t i o n throughout Italy. He changed t h e w a y w i n e m a k i n g w a s thought of including processes of aging wine in oak barriques, which at the time was an uncom- mon practice. He also shared the process of malolactic fermenta- tion and use of temperature con- trolled fermentation tanks within the winery. As many winemak- ers and experts say, winemaking not only takes place in the win- ery, but in the vineyard itself. There are so many elements that make up what's known as a "ter- roir" of an area including the cli- mate, the topography, the soil, etc.. Giacomo also spoke of south facing slopes for growing grapes that obtain the best sun- light and using cordon training for the vines. What really raised eyebrows is when he introduced the bor- deaux grapes of France like mer- l o t , c a b e r n e t s a u v i g n o n a n d cabernet franc into winemaking in Italy. The focus had always been on Italy's native grapes rather than introducing interna- tional varietals into their wines. According to an interview in Decanter, Giacomo would travel to Bordeaux meeting with and looking up to Emile Peynaud, an o e n o l o g i s t l e c t u r e r , w h o m helped Giacomo see the poten- tial of blending in bordeaux vari- etals. And this is what Giacomo took back with him to Tuscany to begin the new revolution of winemaking. All these facets and more are what led him to be named in Decanter magazine as Decanter's Man of the Year in 2011. Some of the top wines and most famous in Italy are the effects of Giacomo's master- p i e c e s i n c l u d i n g t h e w i n e , Tignanello, from the Tenuta San G u i d o e s t a t e i n B o l g h e r i , Tuscany and the wines Solaia and Sassicaia of the Antinori estate, also in Tuscany. At the time, instead of working with the sangiovese grape and others in Tuscany he began to introduce t h e b o r d e a u x i n t e r n a t i o n a l grapes he learned about from Emile and used them to blend and produce these outstanding wines. Unfortunately, because they didn't meet Italian laws they were declassified as basic "vino d a t a v o l a " w i n e s . A s t h e s e wines got exposure and praise throughout the world the term Super Tuscans was developed and are now found under the IGT designation of Italian wines, a step up from the vino da tavola designation. The IGT designa- tion was created for those wine- makers that wanted to break out- side the norm and experiment with grapes such as those that Giacomo introduced. Outside of Tuscany Giacomo JENNIFER MARTIN also consulted with wineries on the island of Sardegna including Santadi, a cooperative winery, where he produced the wine T e r r e B r u n e a n d a l s o t h e A r g i o l a s w i n e r y . G i a c o m o helped to put Sardinian wines on the map that expressed the c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s o f t h e i s l a n d through its wine. Wine tells a story and is a very important aspect of winemaking that the w i n e m a k e r s a n d f a m i l i e s o f Italy take great pride in and Giacomo was able to show all these characteristics within the glass. He also worked with wineries in other regions of cen- tral Italy including Le Marche and the Trentino Alto Adige, located in northeast Italy, work- ing with wineries like Tenuta San Leonardo producing the San Leonardo wine. Giacomo was able to enjoy his retirement for just six years, although he continued to consult with wineries during that time. Wine was his passion and he dedicated his life to it that car- ried him through the last days of his life. For those of you that can read Italian and would love to learn more about this Italian wine icon he wrote an autobiog- r a p h y t h a t y o u c a n s e e k o u t called "Sapere di Vino". Today, his daughter, another winemaker i n t h e f a m i l y , c a r r i e s o n Giacomo's legend. He is a leg- end that will never be forgotten for his contribution to Italian wine and for that we are thank- ful. The legendary enologist and consultant Giacomo Tachis A bottle of Solaia, one of the top wines created by Giacomo Tachis in Tuscany WINE NEWS TRENDS PROFILES

• Cover