It wasn’t just a tasting, but a narrative that dug deep. Not only into the soils and the wines, but above all into the people — the true soul of Argentiera. On April 29, at Remedy in Milan, the Tuscan winery chose to celebrate the first 20 years of its Bolgheri Superiore DOC with a vertical tasting conceived as a journey through memory and vision, capable of expressing the identity of one of the denomination’s most representative estates today. Leading the narrative were three key voices of the project: Stanislaus Turnauer, owner of the estate; Nicolò Carrara, winemaker; and Leonardo Raspini, general manager. Three different perspectives woven into a single story: that of a wine which, over 20 years, has found its own stylistic signature without ever losing its bond with the Bolgheri territory.
Argentiera: the most maritime and elevated face of Bolgheri
To understand the meaning of this vertical, one must start from the place. Argentiera lies at the southernmost edge of the Bolgheri DOC, between 180 and 200 meters above sea level, in a unique position that combines proximity to the sea with one of the highest elevations in the denomination.
A balance that translates directly into the wine. “The closeness to the sea gives an impact that brings balance to the grapes and therefore to the wine,” notes Leonardo Raspini, highlighting how constant ventilation and temperature variation are key elements of Argentiera’s style.
A complex terroir of sands, clays and calcareous soils produces wines that combine structure, freshness and finesse, with a strong mineral and saline imprint.
A “split” vertical to narrate 20 years of evolution in Bolgheri
The Milan tasting was designed as a “split” vertical in two stages, exploring 10 symbolic vintages to recount not only the evolution of the wine but also that of the estate.
The journey begins with 2003, the first expression of a still‑young vineyard, yet already surprising today for its endurance and complexity. A wine that, more than 20 years later, maintains vibrant acidity and an elegant, evolved profile of leather and underbrush.
The 2006 marks the first true Bolgheri vintage: intense and concentrated, with black fruit emerging more clearly and forcefully, leather notes still present but in the background, shaping an elegance defined by marked finesse.
The 2007 reflects a cooler, more challenging season, with balsamic and iodine tones that defined its debut and have now evolved into pronounced fruit and acidity, though with a shorter finish compared to 2003 and 2006.
The 2009 represents a milestone: the year winemaker Nicolò Carrara joined the estate. A balanced vintage where fruit, freshness and a lovely violet note emerge immediately, along with a clear stylistic identity.
With 2013, the first decade is celebrated — a vintage marking a clear qualitative leap: vibrant, energetic, perfectly poised in its evolution. Precision increases in the glass: true focus. Tension, balance, clarity and finesse — all the elements that define Argentiera’s style.
From the change in ownership to a new stylistic course
The 2016 marks a turning point. It is the year after the arrival of the new ownership led by Stanislaus Turnauer, signaling a shift without breaking with the past.
“It was a change, but not a rupture — it fits organically into Argentiera’s history,” Raspini explains.
A new phase begins, defined by greater stylistic clarity and technical precision. The 2016, a regular and complete vintage, delivers a more mature and self‑aware wine, with a vegetal nuance and hints of rhubarb and licorice. The 2017 — an extreme vintage — shows the team’s ability to handle difficult conditions with well‑established tools: a more streamlined wine, less firm in structure, where fruit emerges more clearly alongside a touch of tobacco.
The 2019 marks another key step: a rebalancing of the blend, with Merlot playing a more central role. The result is a denser, more homogeneous wine, almost monolithic, working on concentration and structure while maintaining well‑integrated acidity.
Argentiera Bolgheri Superiore 2021 and 2023: maturity and the future
The final vintages in the tasting reflect the full maturity of the Argentiera project. The 2021, considered a great Bolgheri vintage, expresses intensity, precision and a strong tannic component supported by freshness and Mediterranean scrub notes in a long, persistent finish.
The 2023, instead, looks to the future. An elegant and balanced vintage, shaped by technical evolution including new concrete vats to increase parcel selection and precision. The result is a layered, refined profile, already well‑defined in its sculpted elegance — a promising debut.
Argentiera’s winemaking vision: accompanying the vineyard
At the heart of this journey lies a clear philosophy. “We don’t create wines — we accompany the fruit of the vineyard,” says winemaker Nicolò Carrara.
A vision centered on terroir, freshness and tension, even in warmer vintages. The goal is not to standardize, but to make each vintage readable while maintaining a stylistic coherence that makes Argentiera instantly recognizable.
Stanislaus Turnauer’s vision: a life choice as much as an entrepreneurial one
The narrative concludes with the owner’s perspective. Stanislaus Turnauer arrived in Bolgheri after an international path, driven by an authentic passion for the countryside and wine, cultivated since youth between Switzerland and harvests in Austria with his grandfather. Over time, he developed an entrepreneurial vision based on diversification and the belief that a company must grow without limiting itself to a single productive horizon.
His encounter with Tuscany in 2012 marked a turning point: “love at first sight” for Bolgheri’s landscape — vineyards like amphitheaters, sea and Mediterranean scrub — and for the wines of the denomination, which firmly placed Italy on his personal and professional radar. From that experience came the desire to join the Argentiera project, culminating in the acquisition of the estate in 2016 and the family’s move to Italy.
“It was a life change,” Turnauer says, explaining how since 2016 Argentiera has profoundly evolved its way of communicating and presenting itself to the world, building an identity now recognized internationally. A growth made possible by the team, the strength of the territory and the quality of the wines — with the ambition of turning Argentiera into something beyond a winery: a project capable of fully expressing the human, cultural and territorial potential that drives it.
Twenty years after its first release, Argentiera stands today as one of the benchmark estates of the Bolgheri DOC and of Tuscan wine more broadly — a journey built over time, through technical evolution, entrepreneurial vision and the ability to interpret a unique terroir, just as the Milan vertical tasting demonstrated.
