A rebel in off-the-beaten Tuscany
“Wine is the closest thing I know to sex,” says Rocco Toscani. “Everybody does it. There are no rules.”
Edginess runs in the family. Rocco’s father is the volcanic photographer Oliviero Toscani who in the 1980s and 1990s pioneered “shockvertising” (ads that were just a tableau of condoms or a photo of a young priest and nun in a passionate embrace) as the creative director of Benetton.
Rocco Toscani in the cellar with examples of his photo portraits from his former career
For the last decade Rocco has run the Toscani farm and winery – the latter started by his dad in the early ‘00s with the help of Angelo Gaia and other pals from nearby Bolgheri. There were lots of father-son battles as Rocco brought his vision and organic farming to the farm and threw out a lot of his father’s ideas.
Today Rocco produces a fun line of wines using a lot of Syrah lightened for great drinkability with the addition of white Greco.
“I am convinced wine has to be a popular thing,” Rocco says. “It’s like music. You don’t make aristocratic music.”
Rocco Toscani in the vineyard
Read about Toscani, his wines, rodeo and racing pigeons in the latest Robert Camuto Meets…
And while you’re at it, check out another great Tuscan discovery in another recent column on Tenuta di Ghizzano.