Lupicaia: An Emerging Tuscan Thoroughbred

Castello del Terriccio is one of Tuscany’s most impressive properties. The estate is located in the upper reaches of Maremma, near Pisa and only a few kilometers from the Tyrrhenian Sea. Terriccio traces its rich history back at least several centuries, but vineyards were only planted in the late 1980s. Proprietor Dr. Gian Annibale Rossi di Medelana was inspired by the success of Sassicaia and he set out to make his version of Tuscany’s most famous wine.  Rossi sourced cuttings from some of France’s top estates and began planting the high-density vineyards that are the source of Castello del Terriccio’s top bottlings. Lupicaia, a Cabernet Sauvignon- based red, was introduced formally with the 1993 vintage, followed by Castello del Terriccio, which features Syrah, Petit Verdot and a host of other Mediterranean varieties. Both Lupicaia and Castello del Terriccio can be considered the estate’s flagship high-end wines, while Tassinaia, formally the second wine of Lupicaia, is a decidedly more affordable red.

More specifically, Lupicaia is Cabernet Sauvignon with a dollop of Merlot and Petit Verdot that can vary from year to year. The wine is fermented in stainless steel for 16-18 days with frequent delestage and subsequently aged in French oak barrels. Between 1999 and 2000 the estate began to reduce their reliance on new oak, lowered toasts levels and also shortened the amount of time the wine spends in barrel as they moved away from the excessively oaky style that was in vogue in Italy in the mid to late 1990s. The results in recent vintages have been nothing less than striking.

Lupicaia, and all of the wines from Terriccio for that matter, are often hard to assess when they are young, as the wines are typically massively concentrated and tannic. This tasting with Dr. Rossi di Medelana and long-term consulting oenologist Carlo Ferrini provided a great opportunity to check in on a number of older vintages. In particular, I was thrilled with how the wines from the mid-1990s have aged. Even the early wines made with a heavy reliance on French oak are developing nicely, although stylistically they are bigger, bolder wines that impress more for their sheer volume rather than for their complexity. Considering the vineyards were just a few years old at the time, there is every reason to believe that current vintages will develop even more elegance with extended cellaring, particularly now that the use of French oak is more measured. This tasting was limited to just a few vintages from odd-numbered years (I am not sure if there was a reason for that) but readers fortunate enough to own any of these wines should be thrilled.

The 1993 Lupicaia is impressive. The wine has developed beautifully over the last few years, acquiring a compelling level of finesse, particularly in its bouquet. This medium-bodied Lupicaia possesses exceptional balance with sweet notes of menthol and herbs that add layers of complexity to an expressive core of fruit. Readers lucky enough to own bottles of the 1993 should be delighted. 92/Anticipated maturity: 2009-2018.

The 1995 Lupicaia comes across as quite young and needing further bottle age. Still, today it is absolutely gorgeous. The fruit is quite dense and rich, with the wine’s expressive, silky-textured core captures the essence of the late harvest that year.  Signature notes of mint and herbs add complexity to the powerful finish. This is a gorgeous effort. 93/Anticipated maturity: 2012-2025. The 1997 Lupicaia is largely the result of an April frost that swept through much of Tuscany that year, dramatically lowering yields. The 1997 is remarkable for the sheer weight and concentration of its fruit. The wine possesses awesome richness in a full-bodied style. Some of the ripeness has been achieved at the expense of aromatic complexity, but nevertheless the 1997 Lupicaia remains a superb wine that should continue to age gracefully on it the sheer depth of its fruit. 94/Anticipated maturity: 2012-2022.

The estate’s 1999 Lupicaia emerges from the glass with the essence of roasted coffee beans, grilled herbs and dark fruit. This is a beautifully balanced Lupicaia blessed with knock-out aromatics, layered fruit, and a rich, powerful personality. The 1999 remains a powerful, structured Lupicaia that could use another few years in bottle to fill out its large-scaled frame. 94/Anticipated maturity: 2012-2022. The 2001 Lupicaia is another wine that bears the signature of a vintage affected by a spring frost. The wine’s richness, depth and persistence are all marvelous. This is an intense, brawny Lupicaia that is still clearly too young to deliver real pleasure. Still, the wine’s pedigree is impossible to miss. The 2001 is truly exceptional and clearly the finest Lupicaia to date. In 2001 Lupicaia contains a dollop of Petit Verdot, which adds further complexity. 95/ Anticipated maturity: 2012-2026.

I was very pleasantly surprised with the 2003 Lupicaia. Despite the torrid vintage, the wine has aged nicely and retained quite a bit of freshness as well. To be sure, the 2003 is a super-ripe Lupicaia with tonality in the fruit that recalls blueberry and blackberry jam. Earthy, spiced notes develop in the glass, adding further layers of definition to this dark, brooding Lupicaia. The heat of the vintage is felt most in the tannins, which are marked by the somewhat rough, brawny quality that is typical of that year. That notwithstanding, the 2003 remains a very successful wine within the context of a challenging vintage. 92/Anticipated maturity: 2011-2023. The 2005 Lupicaia is sleek and elegant in this vintage. The year was a touch cooler and rainier than normal and like so many wines in this harvest, the 2005 Lupicaia remains rather lithe. This is a Lupicaia built on a fragrant, mineral-driven core of fruit. The finish is long, polished and utterly impeccable. The wine’s freshness should allow it to age gracefully for many years to come. This is a beautiful effort from Castello del Terriccio.  93/Anticipated maturity: 2015-2025

 --  Antonio Galloni