Redigaffi is one of the world’s greatest Merlot wines, sought after by wine lovers and collectors alike. It helped pole vault the Tua Rita estate into stardom and to world attention. And to think that it all began as a family pastime.

The Tua Rita estate winery

In 1994, Rita Tua and Virgilio Bisti bought what was to become the Tua Rita winery mostly as a second family home, a weekend vacation “cottage” of sorts where to get away from it all on weekends. There were already about two hectares of vineyards when they bought the property, but wine was not foremost on their radar at that time. And yet, the seeds for future wine greatness had already been sown. Tua Rita’s land is in the Val di Cornia, a valley located on the southern Tuscan Coast between the Thyrrhenian Sea to the west and Tuscany’s Metalliferous Hills to the east. It is actually sitting in the oldest volcanic crater of Tuscany, formed about two million years ago. The pretty town of Suvereto is very close-by (while I’m on this subject, I urge you to visit it, as it not only oozes plenty of old medieval charm, but it also traces its roots back to ancient Etruscan times, so it offers plenty to see). Virgilio liked wine and so dabbled in winemaking along with Rita, who was more than a valiant help: the two began producing wine for home use that turned out to be so good all their friends urged them to start making it in a more organized, professional manner and to start commercializing it. At first, Stefano Frascolla (the main face of the estate today along with his son Giovanni), was not involved in the home winemaking project; but as he was the boyfriend of Virgilio and Rita’s daughter Simene (that’s not a typo, it is exactly how her name is spelled), Virgilio used to ask them to come and help bottle. Stefano would soon begin managing the Tua Rita winery full-time; and always a family-run company, Tua Rita became even more so when Simena also began working full-time at the estate, after Virgilio’s passing in 2010. In fact, Tua Rita was really one of Italy’s first garagiste wine startups, one that met not just with almost instant success, but also one that has lasted the course.