Giacomo Tachis: ad memoriam

Giacomo Tachis: ad memoriam

08/02/2016

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The "mescolavini": a wine scientistThe young Giacomo Tachis had been expelled from school because an inflexible, an end in itself discipline is not his cup of tea. Everything changes when Tachis starts studying oenology at the Agriculture Faculty in Alba: Giacomo is fascinated by chemistry, biology, physics, his commitment to studies even moves his teachers. His friends nickname him “mescolavini”, the wine blender, and he will stay with it modestly and proud! The other great Tachis’ love is books: he started to collect books, poetry and chemistry, biology and arts, and, of course, oenology; he confessed to be a true bookaholic. Italian wine history in the makingIn the Sixties, while the Dolce Vita rampages through Italy, there is no scientific approach to wine making yet. The old saying “old barrel gives good wine” is an applied statement, quantity is valued more than quality, the oenologist doesn’t exist, or he works only on stabilization of bottled wine. Tachis studies with, and then becomes friend of, Emile Peynaud, master oenologist in Bordeaux. The relationship between Tachis and Peynaud is fundamental for the history of oenology in Italy: Peynaud is the connection between Tachis and Bolgheri, then a sort of “grandfather” of the Sassicaia. Giacomo will start working for the Antinori family in Bolgheri at 26, and he will go on until retirement. And the first years with the Antinoris, Niccolò and Piero, are an epic adventure, a revolution which will give milestones of the Italian winemaking culture, such as the Tignanello and Solaia. Later - in the 80s - 90s - Tachis will work in Sicily and Sardinia as well, giving his contribution to more great wines: Turriga, il Korem, Terre Brune… Monovarietal or Plurivarietal? According to the Tachis’ philosophy of winemaking a great, balanced wine can arise only from a plurivarietal approach, and the environment has anyway a great importance, as climate, altitude and exposure to sunlight interact with the vines. Nevertheless, Tachis lately experimented the Monovarietal territory, to achieve a full-bodied, sweeter Sangiovese.