"Bolgheri and the coastal line of Tuscany were considered areas
to forget in terms of viticulture because we were under water until
a couple of centuries ago since the first drain started in 1835,"
Marchetto said. "When Mario Incisa arrived here, Bolgheri was not as
fancy as it is today. At that time, it was still considered an area that
was waking up from centuries and centuries of malaria, swamps;
there was no viticulture here. Agriculture was the main economy of
the area."
The wines that were grown in the region at the time were based
on the local Sangiovese grape, but after a few years in Bolgheri, the
Marchese decided to put his agronomy studies to the test and see if
he could make the vines of his beloved Bordeaux wines thrive.
"Mario Incisa wanted, for his personal use only, a wine not with
Sangiovese, which was the only Italian grape that Bolgheri people
knew at that time together with Canaiolo and other red berry va-
rieties," Marchetta said. "He wanted to follow his own taste, which
wasn't Italian, but Bordeaux. So what he did was a revolution.
S a s sicaia was among the very first wines with French varieties
