Tenuta San Guido has produced the world’s fastest racehorses and some of its greatest wines including Sassicaia. Rebecca Gibb MW meets its self-effacing owner.
“Buongiorno Marchese!” sing the stable hands from their mounts. “Buongiorno Marchese” waves the farrier grappling with a shoeless three-year-old colt. The Marchese – Nicolò Incisa della Rochetta – acknowledges their greetings with a bashful nod, hands tucked in the pocket of his wax jacket. He’s the Marchese to everyone, despite aristocratic titles having long gone the same way as the Italian monarchy. “It doesn’t mean anything,” he says, when asked what the title denotes today. “Titles ceased to exist when Italy went from a kingdom to a republic in 1948.” Yet everyone still uses his hereditary noble title Marchese, a sign of respect for this shy gentleman who says he is happier drinking Campari and soda at home than being the frontman at glamorous wine dinners or race meetings.
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