The Underrated Super Tuscan Made by a Piedmontese Master

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Famed Italian vintner Angelo Gaja has three adult children involved in every aspect of the fifth-generation family business, but his favorite child may be Ca’Marcanda, the Bolgheri estate that he purchased in 1996. “Ca’Marcanda is the son my father had at 55, when he was in the midst of his midlife crisis, and it was like a rebirth for him,” says his daughter Rossana, who works closely with her siblings Giovanni and Gaia to carry on the family tradition. Rossana readily admits the trio grew up “looking at Ca’Marcanda as a fourth brother we have to take care of.”

Angelo’s great-grandfather founded the Piedmontese winery in 1859, and after Angelo joined the winery in 1961, he began rolling out changes—from vinification to distribution—that increased Gaja’s prominence around the globe. Decades of success followed with a focus on Nebbiolo in his Barolos and Barbarescos, and in 1994, the acquisition of Pieve Santa Restituta in Montalcino brought great Sangiovese into the fold. Angelo then turned his sights toward Bolgheri, which had just begun to gain acclaim as the center of the Super Tuscan movement. At a time when the area boasted roughly 10 wineries, he became curious about producing bottles using blends of international varieties. He homed in on a particular expanse but ran into a roadblock. “The owners were hesitant to sell,” Angelo says. “I had to meet with them several times before completing the purchase.” Several is an understatement, with it taking a reported 18 meetings to hammer out a deal. Angelo cheekily named the estate Ca’Marcanda, which in Piedmontese dialect translates to “House of Endless Negotiations,” and got to work. He began planting Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, and other varieties on the estate in 1997, and then started construction on a mostly underground gravity flow winery that was completed in 2002. Today Ca’Marcanda has 300 acres in total, with more than 170 on the estate in Bolgheri and additional parcels in nearby Bibbona.

While other Super Tuscans are practically household names among wine collectors, Ca’Marcanda’s flagship blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc, Camarcanda (without the apostrophe), seems to fly under the radar. “Gaja has such a reputation for fine Barbaresco and Barolo, but I still find that many consumers don’t realize the Gaja family has other ventures outside of Piemonte,” says Logan Griffin, director of food and beverage at Three Sisters at Blackberry Mountain in Walland, Tenn. “Sassicaia and Ornellaia have garnered such global reputations in Bolgheri and within the category of Super Tuscan that Ca’Marcanda and other properties in the area have maintained somewhat of a lower profile.” That lower profile is partially intentional; Angelo says that having arrived there as guests, he and his family have shown a deference to the local producers who had arrived before them.

“‘Less is more’ is a very Piedmontese concept, which also includes the concept of a low-profile wine that has secret and reserved characteristics,” Rossana says. And it’s not a wine that trades on the famed Gaja name. Several years ago, the family made a “risky move, that of removing the small Gaja logo that previously stood out at the bottom of the label,” Gaia says. “It is commercially disadvantageous, but it is honest and correct to the identity of Ca’Marcanda, which is ready to go beyond Gaja.” They wanted the Ca’Marcanda name to stand on its own, but the siblings still travel the world to introduce the current release and older vintages to both professionals and consumers.

On one of those excursions Gaia met Andrew Fattorini, a wine collector based in Verona, Italy. He currently has around 48 bottles of Camarcanda across five vintages among the 3,000 bottles in his cellar, which also contains the likes of Biondi Santi, Bertani, Ornellaia, Solaia, and Zenato. “At a dinner in Milan, she introduced me to all her wines,” he says. Soon after, he visited the Bolgheri estate for a tasting guided by Gaia herself. He’s enjoyed past vintages, including his favorite, a 2001, and loves to pair bottles in his cellar with fish, including a recently opened 2015 Magari, Camarcanda’s little brother, made with Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Petit Verdot.

While Camarcanda was originally Merlot-based, over time it has morphed to the current blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc. Gaia explains that the Merlot vineyards planted almost 30 years ago no longer offer the consistency necessary to produce their top end wine. “Merlot is a very difficult variety to bring to full maturity while maintaining grace and drinkability without excessive alcohol content,” she says. “It took time to understand how to create our interpretation of Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc, and how to do so while fully understanding and respecting the identity of Bolgheri.”

Ca’Marcanda 2022 Camarcanda Bolgheri DOP is a blend of 80 percent Cabernet Sauvignon and 20 percent Cabernet Franc that was aged in oak barrels for 18 months and then blended and aged an additional six months in concrete prior to bottling. A gorgeous nose of raspberry, cedarwood, and lavender prepares the palate for flavors of ripe summer cherry, dried thyme, and a hint of eucalyptus wrapped in silky-smooth tannins. Beautifully structured, it offers full mouthfeel and refreshing acidity that drift off into a slightly salty finish. With just one sip, it is easy to understand why Ca’Marcanda is Angelo’s favorite child.

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