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SEPTEMBER 2010
GIACOMO TACHIS:
THE MAESTRO RETIRES?
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IItalians are a diffident, disenchanted people, wary of lavishing compliments.
Especially to fellow Italians. When they call someone “Maestro”; when they do not
hold back their respect and admiration; when they are ready to swear to that someone’s
greatness and moral integrity… Well, you can be sure the man or woman in question is
truly exceptional.
Giacomo Tachis is just
such a man – “the man
behind Italian wine’s
worldwide
Renaissance”, “Prince
of Winemaking”,
“Poet of the Vineyard”
and maker of Italian
masterpieces like
Sassicaia, Tignanello,
Solaia and, more
Clockwise: Giacomo Tachis, Antonello Pilloni of Santadi, Terre Brune
recently, Terre Brune of Santadi (cf. photo above) and Litra of Abbazia Santa
Anastasia.
Tachis was born in Poirino, a small town in the province of Turin (Piedmont), in
1933. His was a modest, blue-collar family; nevertheless, Giacomo and his elder
brother, Antonio Mario, loved studying and were both encouraged by their parents.
Antonio Mario’s was the more straightforward character of the two, and knew early on
what he wanted to do. The “greatest winemaker in Italy” still talks of him with
enormous admiration and affection, as a scientific genius with doctorates in chemistry
and nuclear physics, and a library counting thousands of books. Unlike his older
sibling, Giacomo was attracted to a great variety of subjects and potential professions,
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and so intrigued by the sensory aspects of life – scents and flavors and textures – that as
a child, he first fantasized he would become… a butcher.
In researching the extraordinary career of Giacomo Tachis, we came across a little
volume published by Regione Toscana in September 2009 (cover shown below): Fare il
vino e comunicare il vino: il ruolo pionieristico di Giacomo Tachis (“Making and
communicating wine: G. Tachis’ pioneering role”). Originally a university dissertation
at Università di Firenze (author: Ilaria Ceccarelli; supervisor: Professor Zeffiro
Ciuffoletti), it can be downloaded as a pdf file, entirely free of charge, at:
http://www.regione.toscana.it/regione/multimedia/RT/documents/2009/11/06/1
257493328672_Fare%20il%20vino.pdf
Unfortunately, the text is only available
in Italian – a true pity, for it is not only
concrete proof of Tuscany’s debt of
gratitude to Giacomo Tachis (Regione
Toscana is not a publishing house; it is
quite simply, the Tuscan Region!); it is
also an intelligently written, astute survey
of contemporary Italian viniculture and
overview of Tachis’ personal and
professional life, rich in anecdotes and
quotes. The author interviewed her
subject in his own home, which gave her a
deeper insight into the man and his
character. To Ceccarelli’s work we are
greatly indebted for much of the
information in the present report.
Another debt of gratitude we hold with Santadi, whose President, Antonello Pilloni,
has known Dr. Tachis for the past thirty years.
For many, many years now, Tachis has been living far from his native region – in the
breathtaking countryside near Florence, surrounded by floor-to-ceiling bookshelves of
his beloved classics, antique volumes and scientific and literary texts of all times and
kinds. In the words of Ilaria Ceccarelli, “Nothing and no-one could best answer the
question, Who is Giacomo Tachis? than his library.” In the course of a recent interview
(April 16th, 2010), Tachis told Mara Amorevoli of La Repubblica (one of Italy’s two
major national newspapers): “You cannot make good wine unless you study nature
and its phenomena,” and cites Galileo Galilei, “the greatest oenologist in history, the
only one to have understood that ‘wine is a compound of humor [in its ancient sense of
plant or animal fluid] and light’.” Another of his favorite authors on wine comes from
the other side of the Alps – French Colette, who once wrote his second favorite quote:
“The vine alone, in all the vegetable kingdom, makes us understand what the true
flavor of the soil is.” Tachis revolutionized the Italian wine scenario, yet he has all the
respect for nature of a scientist and a poet; of Galileo and Colette. In fact, one of the
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secrets to his uniqueness may well be that he managed to unite science and poetry in
wine.
On April 12th of this year, four days before the Repubblica interview, Tachis had
announced his (second) retirement, 18 years after his very nominal one of 1992 (when
he ceased to be an employee of Antinori but travelled and worked extensively as a
consultant). At 77, a lifetime of stellar achievements behind him, Tachis might well
deserve the leisure and pleasures of a proper buen retiro. Knowing his prolific mind and
paternal interest in Italian winemaking, however, we straightaway doubted this second
“retirement” would be complete and definitive. The Santadi team has just confirmed
that Tachis is cutting his commitments down drastically, but will continue to
supervise Santadi production with his own brand of friendly, fatherly attention.
Interestingly enough, another of the recurring
terms in speaking of Dr. Tachis, aside from Maestro,
is “papà”. We were on the phone with Gianfranco
Lena of Abbazia Santa Anastasia and Gianfranco
reminisced on Tachis’ collaboration with the winery,
from 1996 to 1999 – and in the most natural way in
the world, told us he was “Litra’s papà”. That says
a lot about the kind of man he is: a man people look
up to with a mixture of perfect trust, admiration and
fondness. The “father of Super Tuscan wine”, in
life, has only one child, Ilaria, born in 1970 from his
Giacomo Tachis
wife of 45 years, Maria Vadini (whom he married
on January 30th, 1965).
One of Ceccarelli’s insights into Tachis, the man, is the fundamental importance of
personal relationships: “Most of the memories he cherishes and pleasurably plucks
out of his hat, consist of persons. He hardly ever speaks of facts or episodes in which
he played a leading role.” Men and women he admired,
professors and mentors and friends and family, are remembered
with warmth and affection; even his favorite authors seem to be
part and parcel of his circle of friends, never mind if they lived,
say, 2000 years ago. Throughout his career, Tachis has always
engaged in an ongoing exchange with scientists, scholars and
wine people of past and present: he is both extremely generous
and sincerely humble, the polar opposite of a “star” though he is
one of the very brightest!
Ribéreau-Gayon’s
famous Handbook
A telling example of this is what he told his employer, Marchese Niccolò Antinori,
one day in 1967: “Marchese, I would like to have a consultant, only I’d like him to be
brilliant, much better than I am or what’s the point in getting a consultant. I would like
to get Ribéreau-Gayon.” Now, Pascal Ribéreau-Gayon of the University of Bordeaux
was the author of the winemakers’ bible, that Handbook of Oenology in two volumes
which had set the foundations of winemaking in microbiology. Tachis has always been
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fascinated by microbiology – so much so that as a student in oenology at the famous
school of Alba, young Tachis had begun corresponding with Professor Émile
Peynaud, also of the University of Bordeaux – now unanimously considered the founder
of modern winemaking.
A lesser man than Tachis would have been wary of sharing his thoughts and work
with a Ribéreau-Gayon or an Émile Peynaud. These might easily upstage a relative
unknown in his early thirties. Tachis, however, was humble and noble-minded enough
to feel Bordeaux was where the great research was happening, and choose to be part of
it. Eventually, Tachis travelled to the celebrated university. Ribéreau-Gayon was
abroad at the time but Tachis bumped into his longtime correspondent, Professor
Peynaud. The two men immediately clicked in person as they had on paper, and when
Émile Peynaud
Tachis asked Peynaud whether he might consider
consulting for Antinori, the answer was, “Avec
grand plaisir”, with great pleasure! Thus began a
collaboration that took Tachis to Bordeaux once
every two or three months, and Peynaud to Chianti
at least once a year. The two oenologists shared
more than a professional relationship; they became
great friends. “Peynaud consulted for the top wineries in the world,” Tachis recounts in
Fare il vino e comunicare il vino. “He was extremely tall, big-built, a heavy eater like
myself. One day, I got to Bordeaux via Paris (there was no direct flight at the time) and
he was there to meet me. My suitcase had wound up in New York by mistake, it was
pouring in Bordeaux and I had no raincoat so Peynaud lent me his, and it came down to
my ankles!” Tachis laughs as he remembers, an affectionate laughter tinged with
melancholy, for Peynaud – his senior by 21 years – can no longer share his enjoyment of
life, wine and science with the most brilliant of his disciples.
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1933: Giacomo Tachis is born in Poirino (Turin, Piedmont)
Giacomo is a studious yet rebellious child who chafes at rigid authority: he runs
away… three times (!) from the Catholic boarding school where his parents have placed
him. The principal tells his mother that “if she wanted Giacomo to get a proper
education, she would have to take him away”. As it turns out, the principal was spoton: once out of boarding school, Giacomo gets up at 5 a.m. each morning to study and
completes high school with flying colors.
The question is now: what to do next? Unlike his elder brother, Giacomo is not
quite sure what he wants to be when he grows up. He loves chemistry and
microbiology, however, and a cousin of his mother’s – general manager of Martini &
Rossi in Paris – suggests Giacomo take up oenology, with a view to recommending him
with the corporation.
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1954: Giacomo graduates in oenology at the famous school of Alba – just 21
miles southeast of his hometown (see map below). At this point in his life, it might have
been safe to surmise that Tachis’ entire career
would have developed in his native region,
wine-rich Piedmont. (As it turned out, Tachis
was to travel from Tuscany to France, to
Sicily, Sardinia, the Marches and more…)
He is a brilliant student; one, moreover, who
thinks outside the box. Passionate about
organic chemistry, the physiology of flavors
and aromas, microbiology, his work impresses
his professors and the dean himself, who will
later recommend him warmly for an important
post in Tuscany.
He is so fascinated by the fundamental research carried out at the University of
Bordeaux that he begins corresponding with Professor Émile Peynaud.
His interest and involvement with what’s going on in France actually damages his
first job interview, with an executive of Martini & Rossi in Turin. As he will tell Ilaria
Ceccarelli, “When I met this executive, I spoke to him of the research that was being
carried out in France, and proved to know the chemistry of oenology well. The guy got
scared, must have thought ‘we’ll be nursing a viper in our bosom’! So he opposed their
hiring me. In the end, I had to make a living elsewhere, but I couldn’t have cared less.
On the contrary, I thank God, now.”
Tachis’ first job is for a Piedmontese liquor manufacturer. His second, for a
distillery at Imola, near Bologna. In the recent article we cited above (La Repubblica of
April 16th), Tachis told his interviewer: “I loved Imola, which meant good food and
beautiful women; yet was fated to encounter the Tuscan landscape, the link connecting
wine and history.”
1961: The encounter with Tuscany! Niccolò Antinori, Piero’s father, employs
the young Piedmontese as oenologist on his Tuscan estates, also thanks to the warm
recommendation of the dean at Alba’s winemaking academy. Tachis will soon be
appointed production manager.
1967: As we saw earlier, the Antinori production manager wants to engage in a
scientific and professional exchange with the University of Bordeaux. Tachis meets
Professor Peynaud in person, and becomes his favourite disciple and friend.
1968: Niccolò Antinori “lends” Tachis to his cousin, Marchese Mario Incisa
della Rocchetta, at Tenuta San Guido, Bolgheri, where the Marquis Incisa della
Rocchetta (ironically, Piedmontese in origin, like Tachis himself) had planted 1,000
vines of Cabernet Sauvignon in 1944, bottling the ensuing wine in 1958. The wine was
at first judged disappointing, and lay forgotten in the Bolgheri cellars until Mario’s son,
Nicolò Incisa della Rocchetta, chanced on a bottle or two ten years later, and found the
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ugly duckling had turned into a swan! At first, Tachis’ job was tasting and blending the
various older vintages under a 1968 label. The first 3,000 bottles of Sassicaia thus saw
the light. In time, however, Tachis supervised production from vineyard to bottle. The
Antinoris were initially involved in the project, having invested in the breakthrough
wine and having collaborated in the business & marketing aspects of the venture. They
later detached themselves from Sassicaia but allowed Tachis to continue.
The work of Giacomo Tachis on Sassicaia pioneered such innovative concepts
(for Italy in the 1960s and ’70s) as the spur-pruned cordon in lieu of bush-trained vines, southfacing instead of north-facing rows, temperature-controlled fermentation, malolactic fermentation,
ageing in barrique etc.
The Antinoris, encouraged by Sassicaia’s example, decide Tachis’ innovative
avenue can be carried over to Chianti. At that time, the latter’s reputation was at its
lowest ebb. Tenuta Santa Cristina is to be the scenario for a Chianti beyond Chianti – a
Sangiovese-based red rooted in terroir, yet revisited for the modern-day international
consumer. “We were sick and tired of being told that Italian wines were worthless,” in
Tachis’ words to Ceccarelli. “That’s how the project started. Foreigners treated us like
dirt, so degraded was the Chianti image.” Hence a radical revision of Chianti “rules”
and the traditional formula that saw the blend comprise white minority grapes.
1965: Piero Antinori joins his father at the winery; the synergy of all three men is
exceptional. The same year, January 30th, Giacomo Tachis marries Maria Vadini.
They are still married.
1970: The Tachis’ only daughter, Ilaria, is born.
1971: Tignanello is the first wine in Chianti to blend Sangiovese and Cabernet
Sauvignon, and to age in barrique (around 15-18 months, like Sassicaia). Ironically,
Tignanello is not allowed to bear the Chianti label, as DOC regulations (DOCG after
1984) are behindhand by comparison with the Tachis/Antinori research. Tachis was
the first to eliminate white varieties in the Chianti formula and include noble reds like
Cabernet Sauvignon (albeit in wines that could not be labelled Chianti, only vino da
tavola!). DOCG rules were to follow in 1984, allowing a maximum of 5% white grapes
in lieu of the original 20+%, and authorizing complementary varieties like Cabernet.
1978: Tignanello is followed by Solaia, from Bordeaux varieties.
As production manager, Tachis takes Antinori production from 900,000 to 16
million bottles. Tachis leads the way in a Tuscan quality revolution.
The Antinoris had many noble relatives in regions as diverse as Campania and
Trentino. Tachis is again “borrowed” by other wine districts and producers, at
Antinori’s request.
In the early 1980s, Antonello Pilloni, President of Santadi, contacts Tachis and
asks him to consult for the quality-driven Sardinian winery. Tachis loves the island
and is enthusiastic at the idea of helping to transform its wine scenario. However, he is
bound exclusively to Antinori. As he later told Ilaria Ceccarelli: “I was an employee,
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with an ironclad contract. So one day, I went to Piero and said, ‘Look, Marchese, I got
a consultancy offer from Sardinia.’ ‘Congratulations!,’ he said, and I continued: ‘They’d
like me to go down there two or three times a month, on Saturdays and Sundays.’ The
Marquis replied, ‘It will be a tacit understanding between us.’” Once more, the
Antinoris showed broad-mindedness and entrepreneurial intelligence: denying Tachis
the privilege would have been asking for trouble, and the further successes to come in
Sardinia would be nothing less than free publicity for Tachis’ employers.
1992: Tachis formally retires, though he is still exclusive consultant to the
Antinoris through 1995. Nearly four decades have elapsed since that 1954 graduation
in Alba, yet Tachis is anything but tired of the world of wine, and is now free to devote
his amazing talent, experience and vision to new projects while also enriching his
beloved library and vast personal culture, all the time travelling, monitoring those areas
most likely to bear future fruit and break into exciting coups d’états in the winery.
After 1995, Tachis is Professor of Oenology at the Department of Agriculture,
University of Pisa. He also continues to collaborate with the University of California
at Davis, and to consult for producers in Sardinia and Sicily, which he respectively
calls “island of nature” and “island of culture”. These two Mediterranean Edens are
particularly close to Tachis’ heart. It is in great part thanks to Tachis the islands see
their respective quality revolutions in fine wines.
It is interesting to hear what the Santadi team has to say about the great
winemaker: “Tachis is sometimes described as the man who replaced historic wines
with international ones, yet when you take a good, concrete look at what he did, you
realize he has immense respect for local heritage. He feels the Greek and Latin era was
the golden age of Italian winemaking, and believes that the ancient oenological
techniques of southern Italy and the islands were later resumed and perfected by the
French.” In 2006, Tachis even involved Santadi in a project and a wine – Agripunica
and Barrua – of his very own: 50% Antinori, 40% Santadi, 10% split between Antonio
Pilloni of Santadi and Giacomo Tachis himself. As the latter told Michèle Shah in a
Decanter interview of September 2003: “I’m absolutely
passionate about Vermentino [and Carignano]. [...]
There are still parts of Sardinia which I consider virgin
land, it’s a spectacular island, especially the south,
which is the true soul of the island.”
As for Sicilians, they credit him with the
island’s quality revolution of the past fifteen years
(see below).
March 13th, 1999: Honorary Doctorate in
University of Pisa
Agricultural Science and Technology from the University of Pisa.
September 2005: Sicily celebrates Tachis in Palermo. The finest names on the
island gather round the Maestro in the Sicilian capital to fête the reserved, “northerly”
Piedmontese with all the expansive warmth of the Mediterranean temperament. The
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occasion is the launch of a book (cover pictured, right) by wine
journalist and Bordeaux expert Bruno Donati, Giacomo Tachis
enologo corsaro, Dieci anni di rivoluzione siciliana, published by Terra
Ferma – alas, only in Italian, for it is a lovely, very interesting little
volume.
September 7th, 2007: on the first day of his daughter’s first
harvest, Tachis’ first grandchild, Riccardo, is born. Tachis’ gift of
Tuscan vineyards to Ilaria Tachis thus bears fruit that is doubly blessed, and the ensuing
wine is called Pargolo, an ancient, poetical Italian term for small child, baby.
April 12th, 2010: Tachis announces his retirement… Only as we wrote earlier,
this will only mean the Maestro will have more time to devote to his favorite pursuits:
waking up at 4 a.m. (!), reading the classics, writing (he has just completed a book that
ought to be published very soon, titled Il vino dell’anima, Manuale tecnico- filosofico
sull’ebbrezza divina: “Wine of the Soul, A technical-philosophical handbook on divine
rapture”), playing with his two grandsons, travelling to Sardinia and supervising the
education of his other grandchildren, like Terre Brune…
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TTachis has been called “Italy’s most famous oenologist” – yet the formula does not do
credit to his uniqueness. There are numerous outstanding winemakers in this country.
What makes Tachis different?
Not only his daring, his thinking outside the box, his wanting the limelight to fall on
local terroir and entire regions of Italy – not on himself; not only his characteristic
understatement whenever personal success is mentioned (he tells Ilaria Ceccarelli, at the
end of the book: “Success, especially abroad, reeks unpleasantly of ambition; so I
prefer to call myself a country wine-mixer”); his lifelong engagement with other
researchers and scientists, his unfeigned humility…
The words we are looking for may, after all, be Tachis’ own – the title of his imminent
book, Il vino dell’anima. His wines are wines of the soul and of the mind. Their roots go
deep, back to the ancient Mediterranean civilizations that shaped Western culture. Like
all true classics, they are simultaneously avant-garde and authentic, true to the Zeitgeist
and made for the future.
Tachis told Michèle Shah in the Decanter interview we cited earlier: “Winemakers,
like wines, need to go through a malolactic fermentation before they are ready.” This
winemaker went through malolactic and barrique age yet, you know what? At 77, he’s
young, fresh and vibrant, with plenty of room to evolve.