This week I'm breaking down what exactly makes a wine a "Super Tuscan", the rebellious history behind it, and why you want to explore this category of wines.

• You'll learn about the specific grapes used in the Super Tuscan blends and what makes them so special for wine lovers.
• We'll share some of our favorite Super Tuscans from Italy and explore what makes them so unique and how those wines led me to make my own Super Tuscan Inspired Blend in California.
• Plus, I’m super excited to introduce my mom, who’s giving her first-ever wine review on the podcast!

Links and Resources:

My favorite splurge Super Tuscans from Italy:

Find Antinori Tignanello Here

Find Ornellia Here

Find Tenuta San Guido Sassicaia Here

A great Value Priced Super Tuscan- La Volte- under $40!

Nikki's Links:

Follow me on Instagram to get the scoop on upcoming episodes

My Super Tuscan Inspired Blend, Sollevato "Fortunato" is available to be shipped to most US States. (Use the code PODLISTENER for 10% off.) It's a delicious, medium bodied, aromatic red wine that is perfect with pizza, pasta and your charcuterie spread!

Enjoy some of MY FAVORITE THINGS from our Sponsors:

You NEED some delicious California Olive Oil from our awesome sponsor American Olive Farmer. Use code SipWithNikki for $10 off your order!

Check out Sena Sea's website  to get your hands on some beautiful wild-caught Alaskan fish shipped right to your door! Use code sipandsea for 10% off your order and sign up for their email list (great recipes!) and be entered to win a monthly $50 gift card drawing.

If you'd like to be an ANGEL and Support the Podcast, you buy me a glass of wine and get a shout-out on a future episode!

Questions? Comments? Guest requests? nikki@sipwithnikki.com

Delicious.

Are you just saying that because you're my mom?

No.

What do you like about it?

I like everything about it.

It's very smooth.

Yeah.

It's got a lot of different flavors.

It's really yummy.

It goes down easy.

It really does.

It's very drinkable.

Yes.

Thanks.

Hello, and welcome to this week's Sip with Nikki.

I'm Nikki Lamberti, and this week I'm not coming to you from the normal Sonoma County, California.

I'm coming to you from the beautiful.

Jersey shore, my home state.

I am back in Long Beach Island.

New Jersey, visiting with family.

And if you are a regular listener, welcome back.

I see you.

Thank you so much for being here and if you are new to the.

Party, also, happy to have you.

So if you follow my social media.

If you part of our mailing list, you may have seen this week.

It was a big week, and Michael.

And I released a new wine, and it is our Solevato Fortunato, which is a Super Tuscan inspired blend from the Napa Valley.

And I've got lots of questions about.

Well, what the heck is Super Tuscan?

What does that mean and what does that mean when you're making this wine in California?

So today we're breaking down all things Super Tuscan.

I'll tell you what the term means and what you should expect from wines.

That fall into that category when they're coming from Italy.

And I'm gonna share with you some of my favorites, especially my aha.

Wine that really led me to pursue.

This career and work in the wine world.

And then we're having an extra special.

Sip spotlight this week with none other than my mom, little sue, who is essentially making her first appearance on the podcast today.

She had not tasted our Fortunado wine yet, so I hit record.

And we got an uncensored wine review from mom of the Wine.

And I can't wait for you to hear it.

So here we go with what the heck is a Super Tuscan and why should you be drinking it?

So I wanted to start by letting you know how this term and this category of wines even wound up on my radar, because it was happenstance.

It wasn't something that I was seeking out.

And if you have listened to previous episodes, which I sure hope that you have, you heard the long version, the full version of this story I shared in episode number 35 last summer.

It was about my aha moments that led me to wine.

But if you missed that, go back and check it out.

But for context, today, I'll give You the short version.

I was working for Disney and based in Orlando and working on the Disney Cruise Line.

And one night I was dining in Palo, which is their high end, adult only Italian restaurant.

And we were looking to order some wine to go with our beautiful filets that restaurant is known for.

And I was with a couple of my team members who are good friends and our wonderful server, his name was Sylvester from India.

We became fast friends after this story happened.

He said, oh, you guys are all ordering filets.

You should try the Super Tuscan.

And I was like, I don't know what that is.

It was the first time I had heard that I was a wine drinker at that point, but hadn't really studied or certainly any types of certifications, just a wine lover.

And I said, oh, Super Tuscan, what's that?

And he said, that's called Tignanello.

Tignanello Tig as we call it for short.

And it's a blend of Sangiovese, the Italian grapes, with some non Italian grapes, grapes from Bordeaux like Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cab Franc.

And I was like, oh, that sounds great.

Cause that point, I don't think I had ever had Sangiovese blended with anything that I was aware of.

I had Chianti Classico, which is typically all Sangiovese, or traditionally maybe a little bit of a white Italian grape in there.

But to my knowledge had never had this combination of Italian grape I love blended with the French grapes I love.

So I was like, sure, I'll have a glass.

And he's like, oh no, it doesn't come by the glass.

Hint number one about the exclusivity of Super Tuscans.

So my fellow team members were good sports and they said, oh, I'm going to get a glass, I'm going to get a glass.

So it made sense.

And we got the bottle of Tignanello.

And that was the first time I ever spent over $100 on a bottle of wine.

And it changed my life.

No joke.

I know it sounds corny.

I have no affiliation with them, I just love their wine.

Because at that meal, that was the first time that I ever experienced how a glass was changing and pretty rapidly in the glass during the meal.

So sip one was like, yum, I'm getting fruity cherry.

And then sip 2 and sip 5 and sip 10.

As we worked our way through that bottle, through the meal, and then of course added the pairings with the filets, which is salt, fat, protein, the wine just changed.

And every Time I picked it up, it was like I was tasting it for the first time.

In the wine world, we call that complexity when a wine has so many layers to it that when it is exposed to oxygen in your glass or you're decanting it, those layers just change and unveil themselves as you're enjoying that glass.

So that was a big aha moment for me.

And then it became a tradition.

Every time I was working on the ship and dining in that restaurant with my teammates, we started ordering it on purpose because it was enjoyable and such a conversation starter.

So that was a really big seed that was planted for me to then, six years later, move from Orlando to Wine country, where I live now, to study and to make wine.

And so I always had it in the back of my mind that I would want to make a wine like that.

But in California, listen into the end to see if it came to fruition.

Now, a little bit about this category of wine, Super Tuscan, that is a general term and the thing that you need to know about Italy and how they classify their wines.

And if you go back to the episode where I talk about how to shop for wine and how to read wine labels, I get into this.

But Italian wines are very highly specific in what can be grown, where and how things can be labeled.

And then there are different classifications, like doc docg I g T.

So, you know, you can only make certain things in certain areas if you want to have that classification, and it's a big deal.

But in the 60s and 70s, there were producers that wanted to rebel against that, especially in the Chianti region of Tuscany, where to that point, you could only grow and make Sangiovese.

And then you had a leeway to blend a little bit of white Italian grape, so just Italian, period.

And nobody was combining Bordeaux grapes like Cabernet with Italian grapes like Sanchez, or Blasphemy, she says, as clutching her pearls.

Bottling a wine grown in Italy, grown in Tuscany, that didn't even have the traditional Italian grapes like Sangiovese, and was just Cabernet Sauvignon.

Nobody was doing that.

And so in the 60s and 70s, that's when a few producers really started to get curious and started to rebel and knew that their wines would receive a lower classification.

That classification's Vino da tabola, table wine.

And it is just like it sounds.

It's a very generic classification of wines that is less specific and less expensive.

And so they knew that in experimenting with planting, growing, and potentially blending Italian and non Italian grapes, they were going to have to lower down to this category.

But then later, because these wines were so popular and went viral, they became cult wines, especially the modern versions of them.

They're big and they're rich and generally are price tags over $100.

Like the Tignanello.

They have the legal appellation or category labeling of I.

G Tea Indicatione, Geografica Typica, indicating a typical geography.

So generally, you'll see those Super Tuscan wines labeled as igt.

What I love about this category of wines in general, and they're all going to vary, but I find, especially with things like Tignanello that are Sangiovese and Bordeaux grapes, like Cabernet, they can have both red fruit and black fruit characteristics in the same wine.

And that's rare.

A lot of times you have a wine and you're like, oh, I'm smelling and tasting cherries and strawberries.

That's red fruit.

Oh, I'm tasting BlackBerry, black cherry, plums, prunes.

Right, that's black fruit.

But it's a little more rare to have both of those notes happening at the same time in a wine.

And that's one of the things that I enjoy about Super Tuscan wines that I've had then.

I love that typically they have notes of.

Tobacco is one of my favorite interesting characters of Tina Nello.

It's almost like cherry chewing tobacco.

Not that I've ever put that in my mouth, but I've smelled it and it has that juxtaposition of the fruitiness and then the sweet earthiness of tobacco.

And yes, my head did explode a little bit.

And yes, maybe joy did fall out of my face for just a moment to see those vines that created that wine that literally changed my life.

I know, super corny.

It's a 57 hectare vineyard.

It's not very big, but the soils is so interesting.

They're very limestone y soil soils.

And I remember they have these white rocks literally at the base of the vine, both naturally, and then they sort of gather them at the base of the vine, helping with absorption of sunlight and heat up under the vines.

And just I've never seen any vineyard before in all my travels that looks just like this vineyard.

Now, Antinori also makes another Super Tuscan called Ornolia, which I got to taste when I was there.

This wine just has no Sangiovese, no Italian grapes in there whatsoever.

It is always a Cabernet Sauvignon driven blend, Merlot, Cab Franc, Petit Verdot.

So it's essentially a Bordeaux style blend.

But they are growing it in the Bulgari region of Italy and it is generally even more expensive than Tignanello was rated the Wine of the Year by the Wine Spectator and was on the COVID of it.

Another cult Super Tuscan that you'll hear about is Sesekia Sesekaya was Wine of the Year and that's generally a Cabernet Sauvignon lead blend with some Cabernet Franc in it.

In recent years, since I caught the Super Tuscan bug, I am always looking for more value priced Super Tuscans and they do exist like in the 40, 50, $60 range.

So we don't drink Tinanello all the time.

It is a very special occasion wine that we drink, especially when we're back on the Disney Cruise Line and want to splurge in that very restaurant.

But I'll put the link in the show notes not only to the three coveted flagship Super Tuscans that I've mentioned.

Tinanello, Ornolia, Sassakaya, they're just fun to say.

T Nonello, Ornalia, Sesticaya, oh my.

But I will put some links into some that I have found that can be located in places like total wine and wine.com if you'd like to try this style of wine before you do the big splurge.

Now you know a little bit more about those wines.

And I mentioned that it had always been on my heart to create a wine like that.

And if you're a regular listener, you know that my partner Michael and I started Solevato Italian for Joyful and uplifted our small wine brand that's based in Sonoma County.

And just to put into perspective how rare this Is, less than 1% of all of the acreage of vines of grapes in Napa is planted to Sangiovese, so it's very rare to begin with.

And we were connected with gentlemen shout out to Kurt, who had just bought a home in St.

Helena that actually had some mature Sangiovese vines in the yard.

And through word of mouth, I heard he was looking for someone that was willing to make some wine from that property.

We are lucky enough to have friends that are excited to participate.

So they were our pickers.

And for the amount of grapes that we picked, which was not even a half a ton, not even £1,000, it was like between six and £700.

It took us hours.

We are the slowest pickers ever.

But there was also a lot of photos and videos that were happening.

In fact, if you look at my highlight bubble on my Instagram Icky Lamberti, look at the Fortunado highlight bubble and you'll see some of those pictures.

But we picked it ourselves.

And I all hand picked and then crushed and fermented it.

And I knew it was not going to be enough to fill a standard wine barrel, which is about 59 gallons.

And you do not want to have a half or three quarter fill wine barrel aging your wine because there's a lot of oxygen in there.

That's frankly how you make vinegar.

And that's not what we wanted.

So through that circumstance, our first super Tuscan inspired blend was born, where we were able to purchase some Cabernet Sauvignon, just enough to basically fill the barrel and have a little extra for topping off those barrels over their two years of aging.

And then we also are making and have a couple barrels right now of Petit Syrah, which is a rich, dark, inky red wine.

And those grapes come from the property where I lived, from my house that was in the middle of the vineyard in the first couple years that I lived in wine country.

And we'll be releasing the Petite Syrah on its own.

But I wanted to blend a very small percentage in with the Sangiovese in the cab.

Cause that Petite Syrah really gives beautiful color, texture, weight to it.

So we just released Fortunato.

Fortunato is Italian for fortunate or lucky.

And that's exactly how we feel that all three of these things came into place.

And then through our blending trials, we landed on 60% Sangiovese and then 35% Cabernet Sauvignon and then 5% of the Petitseras.

Now, if you have been listening, you also know that as long as a wine is 75% or more of one grape, you can just call it that grape on the label.

So if this was 75% Sangiovese, we could have Labeled it as such, but it's not.

It's only 60% of the leading grape.

So Fortunato is the blend name.

And, of course, it sums up exactly how we feel.

And now it's time for our Sip Spotlight.

Sip Spotlight.

Hi, Mom.

Hi.

Here we are at the beach.

You haven't even smelled the Fortunato yet or tasted it.

I haven't.

I see the color.

All right.

Why don't you tell everyone about the color?

It's dark.

Yeah.

Do you think it's darker than the Sangiovese?

Yes.

Remember, there's Cabernet Sauvignon in there, and there's Petite Syrah in there, which are all gonna make it darker.

What would you call that, though?

You wouldn't say it was brownish?

I would say it's got, like, a garnet.

Okay.

Undertone to it.

Okay.

Yeah.

Cheers, Fortunato.

I'm fortunate to be here.

Absolutely.

Oh, my God.

Jinx.

What?

Do you smell tobacco?

Do you?

Yeah.

You love that.

You look for it, don't you?

I don't know, Nolly.

It's me.

Earthy.

Very earthy.

Did you put tobacco in you?

I did not.

I promise.

It's changing, though.

Yep.

Yeah.

I just opened this probably 10 minutes ago and then poured it in the glass.

It's been in our glasses for five minutes or so.

Breathing a little bit, maybe.

You think the nose is already changing?

Yes.

Okay.

Is the fruit coming forward now?

Yeah.

So the tobacco was there first.

Went back.

Yeah.

I'm not going to say anything.

I already took a sip and you didn't.

I'm not gonna lead the witness.

By the witness, I mean my mother.

It does smell like dark fruit.

She's thinking really hard.

She's making out with it a little bit.

No pressure.

You brought me into this world.

I don't know what it tastes like as much as what it smells like.

Does it taste like it smells?

No.

Okay.

That's always fun.

Yeah.

So she's going back for sip, too.

And I don't blame her.

Sometimes it takes a minute, especially with a newly opened bottle of wine.

I'm gonna join you.

Oh, that was a big sip, Nikki.

Dr.

Hobie Wedler would be proud of you.

As you're swirling your glass with your other hand over the top of it while you're swirling and then releasing the aromas to your fudge.

She's, like, looking into space, cocked her head.

Cause she's, like, really thinking about this.

What is that fruit?

It's something very dark, almost like a plum skin.

Oh, Plum skin.

That is specific.

Okay.

Do you feel like plum skin has bitterness to it sometimes?

Like tannin.

Almost like a grape skin, right?

Yeah.

A lot more vicious than the inside.

The inside is the juicy sweet part.

But the outside sometimes.

Did you just use the word vicious?

Did I?

I think so.

That's a good.

That's a really good description.

Okay, so dark like you're in the purple fruit category.

We're not in the red cherry.

Dark cherry.

Black cherry, yes.

Not a red maraschino fake cherry?

God, no.

God, I would slit my wrist if.

My wine had hinted dark.

Dark cherry chemical.

Maraschino cherries.

There are yellow and red cherries.

Yes.

But this is black.

Yes.

Or is Bing maybe Chandler Bing.

Chandler.

That's what I think of when I say Bing it.

What I'm enjoying about it right now is that my last sip was before we had that little side tangent about the cherries.

Yes, it's still in my mouth.

It is a very long finish that I am happy about.

That's something we strive for in winemaking.

We want it to really coat and hang on.

And that's why I said it's like a warm hug from your favorite Italian nonna.

Is it hugging your mouth?

You don't have Italian nonnas.

But grandpa had this cigar box.

Is that what you get?

The tobacco box?

Yeah.

That was in his study, if I'm not mistaken.

When we have enjoyed Tea Nanello before together as recently as last summer on the cruise in Palo.

She said, one of the things that you have always enjoyed about that wine is the tobacco note.

It's nostalgic for me.

Yeah.

Because it reminds you of your father's cigar box.

Grandfather's.

Yes.

And I'm not sure there were cigars in there.

There were like boxes in the den.

I remember those boxes with doll clothes in them.

When I would go to your parents house.

Okay.

Yeah.

Cause I think he had them in his library or den.

And there were things in them.

Not necessarily cigars or pipes or anything.

Yeah.

I don't think even smoked.

But the boxes keep that smell.

But it's subtle when the cigar is no longer in there.

And I would say that is a great way to say how that note is on these wines.

If people are like, oh, tobacco, I don't like tobacco.

I have never been a smoker in my entire life.

But smelling the residual smell of smoke.

It's unlit.

Yes.

It's a dye.

Like when men do that.

Yes.

When you hold it under your nose like in the shop or the box, it's subtle.

It's like hints of.

And I love that in Tananello.

And I'm very excited that unled by me.

You pick that out of this.

You pick it out of this?

Yes.

Oh, you want it to be in there.

Yeah.

Because this is inspired by that wine.

And even though it's a California expression of it, if that's there, that makes my heart happy.

Yay.

From what you remember, and we're not doing it side by side, but you've had our Sangiovese for multiple years now.

If someone said, oh, Nikki has a new wine out, it's a blend, how is it different than what they were already making?

What comes to mind?

To me, that's bolder, heavier.

I don't know if that's good words, but Boulder heavier.

I could see why people are writing to you and saying, oh, yes, I need more.

Shout out.

To both wonderful customers.

Kathy and Sandra, who ordered when this wine released on Tuesday of this week already opened, tasted, sent me a note saying how much they loved it and already placed second orders.

That, to me, is so gratifying and reinforcing that, like, people really like it.

How come your glass is more empty than mine?

Because I drink faster.

Because you're talking a lot.

And it's interesting because I think people would think, oh, because this is that super Tuscan inspired blend, and there's 35% cabernet in their Petit Syrah.

It's going to be heavier than the 100% Sangiovese.

But the Sangiovese that's in here is different vineyard, different county, Napa versus Sonoma, and was completely different at the time of pick.

It was much lighter, less ripe, and more sharp.

Acidity to it.

Definitely has tannin.

Some tannin that's coming from that 5% petite Syrah from where I used to live.

It only takes 5% and the cab has some tannin, too.

Delicious.

Are you just saying that because you're my mom?

No.

What do you like about it?

I like everything about it.

It's very smooth.

Yeah.

It's got a lot of different flavors.

Yeah, it's really yummy.

Goes down easy.

It really does.

Like, we have already finished our little glasses.

Yeah.

No, it's very drinkable.

Yes.

Thanks.

You're welcome.

All right, I'll give you your check when we're done recording.

Thank you.

Just send me more bottles.

Okay.

Cheers.

Since you brought this bottle to me and you drank half of it in my suitcase.

I didn't drink half of it.

We've had three Sips.

Okay.

I will drink half of it before.

We go to dinner.

Now, Big Dom is tasting Fortunato.

It's a very strong tasting.

Definitely.

You know you're drinking wine when you're drinking this.

There's a quote.

I put that on the website.

You definitely know you're drinking wine when you're drinking this.

Amen.

That is a compliment.

I don't want you to think you're drinking beer or water.

Very good.

Thanks.

I'll give you your check later, too.

I would not say it's strong.

It's funny you said the opposite, but that's.

Yeah.

Do you think it's strong?

I think there's intensity of flavor, but softness of texture, which is the word.

What made me think of the warm hug from Nona.

Right?

Yeah.

Yeah.

And the alcohol is actually very mild on it.

This is one of the lowest alcohol wines we've made.

It's still in the 13.

Oh, okay.

Most of our wines are high 14.

So you just shuddered like a goosebump.

It really is yummy.

It really is.

Cheers.

Thanks for weighing in.

I mean, there's the quote.

Thanks, dad.

You definitely know you're drinking wine when you're drinking this.

I have now promoted him to the.

Head of marketing for Solevato Wines.

So hopefully, through our time together, you feel like you have a solid understanding of what the Super Tuscans are.

What you should expect some of my favorites from Italy.

And then, of course, some great highlights of my wine that is near and dear to my heart.

Fortunato.

At the time of this recording, which.

Is the end of May, we've sold about half of the total 308 bottles.

So if you are interested, visit solavatowines.com and make sure that you use the discount code podlistener for 10% off your order.

Check the links in the show notes for my other favorite Super Tuscan wines as well.

And a special thanks to mom and dad for weighing in today.

Whatever you do between now and next week, I hope that you sip well.