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"Many of the Maremma’s swamps were drained in the early twentieth century in a Mussolini-led effort to help extinguish malaria. In the 1980’s an increased number of wine producers began to restore the region’s viticultural heritage. They saw opportunities in this somewhat forgotten corner of Tuscany.
One such visionary was Elisabetta Geppetti, who has been involved with making wine at her family’s Fattoria Le Pupille winery since she was 21 years old. The estate grew from originally owning some 12 acres (five hectares) of vines in 1985, to owning 185 acres (75 hectares) today. In 1987, encouraged by oenologist Giacomo Tachis, Fattoria Le Pupille began producing a flagship wine—Saffredi—that disregarded appellation regulations, hence became a ‘super-Tuscan’ wine.
In the 1970’s ‘super-Tuscan’ wines became commercially available—made from non-indigenous grapes and flouting local appellation requirements. Rather than include a minimal percentage of Sangiovese juice to win local appellation recognition, these wines were dominated by such international grape varieties as Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Merlot.
The label ‘super-Tuscan’ sounds as though these wines burst out of a Marvel comic strip. Yet that may be due to misunderstood etymology."
read the full article here:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/tmullen/2019/12/02/how-saffredis-wine-matriarch-helped-reignite-a-forgotten-corner-of-tuscany/
