Tuscany holds a very special place in the history of Temple Wines. 

“Harmony and proportion have to be the basis of every one of man's actions.” Gianfranco Soldera

Long before Temple Wines was created, Guilherme Corrêa lived in Italy during some of the most formative years of his education. It was there that he studied at the Associazione Italiana Sommelier (AIS), immersing himself deeply in Italian gastronomic culture and developing two passions that remain with him to this day: wine and gastronomy.

Those were years of intellectual and sensory discovery. While many studied only regions, grape varieties or tasting techniques, Guilherme was above all interested in the relationship between wine, gastronomy, culture and people. It was also during that period that he began to shape what would later become one of his defining traits: a profoundly humanist vision of wine, where a great bottle is never detached from a great meal, a great story or a great territory. 

This passion for pairings became a true personal specialisation, still visible today in the gastronomic and pairing chronicles he wrote for Revista de Vinhos, texts that reveal a rare ability to connect product, tradition, cuisine and emotion.

But destiny had something even more important in store for him. During those years in Italy, he had the rare privilege of being taken under the wing of Gianfranco Soldera, one of the most influential, respected and controversial figures in the history of Italian wine. More than a legendary producer, Soldera became a mentor. He was the one who opened the doors to a wine-producing Italy that is usually inaccessible, introducing him to producers, families and territories that would profoundly shape the vision behind the Temple Wines selection today. 

Alongside Gianfranco, Guilherme travelled through Italy, visiting producers such as Josko Gravner, Giuseppe Mascarello, Giacomo Conterno, Valentini, Ferruccio Fenocchio and many other legendary figures in wine.

 

Ferruccio Fenocchio and Gianfranco Soldera, photo taken by Gui while travelling through Piedmont with the maestro.

Soldera believed that Fenocchio was the greatest promise of traditional Barolo, but sadly he took his own life in tragic circumstances, and the estate was sold by his mother.

As Soldera himself said:

“Everything comes together in Nature; it's there you find an explanation for everything, from life through to death.”

That sentence summarises not only Soldera's philosophy. It also summarises what Guilherme found during those years of learning: a completely different way of looking at wine. And all of this before he was even 30 years old. Imagine the foundation this gave him at such an important moment in his career.

 

The Great Outsider of Italian Wine

There is a curious irony in the story of Gianfranco Soldera. Today, he is recognised as one of the most important figures in the history of Montalcino. But he was never truly a man of Montalcino. He was born in Treviso, grew up in Milan and built an enormously successful career in the insurance industry before entering the world of wine. When he decided to look for an estate where he could fulfil his dream, he began in Veneto and then in Piedmont.

Only later did he arrive in Tuscany, where he sought the support of one of the greatest Sangiovese masters in Italian history, the “palatist” Giulio Gambelli. When he visited Case Basse in 1972, he found an abandoned property and saw in it something no one else had seen. He bought it almost immediately.

Decades later, the journalist and Master of Wine Nicolas Belfrage would write something that became famous:

“If you have not tasted his Brunello, you have not tasted Brunello.”

Few producers have transformed the global perception of a region so profoundly.

Case Basse Was Never Just a Vineyard

One of the great revelations is understanding that Gianfranco never believed that a great vineyard alone was enough to produce a great wine.

For him, something much greater was needed. A habitat. An ecosystem. A complete landscape. That is why he preserved forests, created lakes, planted thousands of plant species and, alongside Graziella Soldera, built one of the most extraordinary private gardens in Italy. He even installed hundreds of nesting boxes for birds and insects and promoted scientific studies on biodiversity decades before the word became fashionable.

“A great wine requires a habitat that is complete, unspoilt, in a word – perfect.”

Today, when many producers speak of biodiversity, sustainability or regenerative agriculture, it is worth remembering that Soldera was already living these principles more than forty years ago.

Wine Is Born in the Vineyard

Of all Gianfranco Soldera’s phrases, perhaps none is more famous than this:

“Wine is made in the vineyards not in the wine cellar.”

Throughout his life, this idea appeared repeatedly, and it was what he explained to Gui on his first visit. “You are not understanding anything, are you? My cellar is very simple, there is no technology... but that is because I make wine in my vineyards, not in the cellar!”

The cellar does not create greatness. The cellar merely prevents it from being destroyed. That is why Soldera devoted almost absolute obsession to his vineyards, with tiny yields, constant and obsessive observation, and minimal intervention.

On average, he could legally have produced around 60,000 bottles per year, but Soldera produced no more than 15,000. And often significantly fewer.

Because for Soldera, quantity and excellence were incompatible concepts.

As he used to say:

“If you produce more, the quality deteriorates.”

The Search for Harmony

The theme of harmony appears on virtually every page of Soldera’s book. In the landscape, in music, in the vineyard, in wine, in life. One of his most striking passages will always be:

“The first thing I look for in my wine cellar is harmony.”

“Harmony and proportion have to be the basis of every one of man's actions.”

For Soldera, harmony was not an aesthetic concept. It was an existential philosophy. And wine merely reflected that vision.

Photo taken in 1997. It is historic because, according to Gianfranco, it was the first time he drew a sample of the 1997 vintage. Even he had not tasted it yet.

The Man Who Faced the World

Few producers generated so much admiration, but few also generated so much controversy. An uncompromising defender of pure Sangiovese and a fierce critic of industrialisation, Soldera made many people uncomfortable throughout his life. But he never backed down.

As he wrote:

“Tradition is often stupid because men tend to follow in each other's mistakes.”

Perhaps it is precisely this intellectual independence that explains why he remains such a fascinating figure. He never sought consensus. He sought truth, in life and in the vineyards.

The Attack That Shook the Wine World and Soldera’s Absolute Independence

In December 2012, the wine world witnessed one of the most shocking episodes in its recent history. A former employee of Case Basse deliberately opened the taps of the large botti in the cellar and destroyed thousands of litres of wine. Six vintages disappeared in a matter of hours. Decades of work quite literally ran down the drain.

The international reaction was immediate. Producers, journalists, collectors and wine lovers from all over the world expressed their solidarity with Gianfranco and Graziella Soldera. The Consorzio del Brunello di Montalcino held an emergency meeting and proposed collecting wine from its members to help compensate Case Basse for the losses suffered. But those who knew Gianfranco Soldera knew that his response would be different. He was deeply grateful for the gesture, but refused it.

To many, the decision seemed surprising. To those who knew the way he thought, it was inevitable. Soldera believed that one wine could not be replaced by another. Each bottle was the unrepeatable expression of a place, a vintage and a specific ecosystem. Accepting wine from other producers, however prestigious they might be, would mean denying precisely what he had always defended.

His response was firm. Instead of directly benefiting from the initiative, he suggested that the resources be used for research into Sangiovese and for the promotion of Montalcino’s viticultural heritage.

Behind that decision lay a conviction he repeated throughout his life:

“Wine is made in the vineyards, not in the wine cellar.”

And, above all, an even deeper idea: the great Gianfranco did not simply produce Brunello. He produced Case Basse.

In truth, Soldera’s distancing from the Brunello di Montalcino DOCG had begun long before the attack. For decades, he maintained a complex relationship with the Consorzio. He disagreed with the increasing bureaucratisation of the denomination, rejected the idea of dividing Montalcino into official subzones and believed that the true identity of a wine could not be reduced to administrative regulations, as well as other illegal practices that are not convenient for us to discuss here.

Soldera himself refused to establish a simplistic relationship between the mineral composition of the soil and the flavour of the wine. He observed that the soils of Case Basse changed “every ten metres” and that the greatness of a wine emerged from the infinitely more complex interaction between soil, plants, climate, biodiversity and human intervention.

After the events of 2012, the tensions became irreversible. In March 2013, Gianfranco Soldera resigned from the Consorzio del Brunello di Montalcino. From that moment on, the wines were bottled outside the Brunello DOC, initially under the IGT Toscana designation. For many producers, leaving Italy’s most famous denomination would have been unthinkable. For Soldera, it was merely a logical consequence.

After all, as he wrote in his own book:

“The first thing I look for in my wine cellar is harmony.”

And harmony, for Gianfranco Soldera, was never something that could be decreed by regulation. It was something born from nature, from the landscape, from time and from absolute fidelity to one’s principles.

Perhaps that is why Soldera’s bottles are now among the most sought-after in the world. They do not represent only a great wine from Montalcino, but one of the last expressions of absolute independence in contemporary wine.

Why Did Soldera Triumph Even in Difficult Vintages?

Master of Wine Alex Hunt wrote a particularly relevant observation about Gianfranco Soldera:

“One of the many reasons why Soldera has won so much respect is this ability to produce great wines even in the trickiest vintages.”

The explanation does not lie only in the vineyard. It lies in the complete ecosystem of Case Basse.

Case Basse is located in the south-western area of Montalcino, near Santa Restituta, one of the most historically reputed areas for Sangiovese. The vineyards sit between 300 and 350 metres above sea level, benefiting from a rare combination of consistent ripening, constant ventilation and significant temperature variation during the growing cycle.

Night breezes descend from the hills and help preserve aromatic freshness and acidic balance, while the stony soils ensure efficient drainage even in wetter years. But it would be simplistic to attribute Soldera’s greatness only to geological terroir.

Gianfranco himself rejected the idea that the mineral composition of the soil could directly explain the aroma or flavour of a wine. The galestro of Case Basse, a particularly friable and complex form of laminated schist typical of the region, varies constantly throughout the estate. According to Soldera, the soil changes every ten metres. For him, it was not a question of minerality. It was a question of complexity. The soil contributed to what he called “an infinity of possibilities”.

That complexity is amplified by one of the most extraordinary ecosystems ever created on a wine estate.

When Gianfranco and Graziella Soldera arrived at Case Basse, they found an abandoned property. What many would have considered a problem became a unique opportunity. Instead of simplifying the landscape, they deliberately increased its biological diversity.

They preserved eight hectares of native forest, which act as a natural barrier against excessive winds. They created lakes, watercourses and wetland areas. They built a living botanical garden that includes more than 1,500 varieties of old roses, countless species of lilies, irises, junipers, laurels, elderberries, olive trees and holm oaks, the tree that gave Montalcino its very name, derived from Mons Ilcinus.

The estate became a habitat for wild boar, deer, foxes, hedgehogs, badgers, amphibians, lizards, snakes, bats, insectivorous birds and thousands of species of insects. Hundreds of nesting boxes were installed to encourage natural predators and promote ecological balance. An entire section of the garden was planted exclusively with aromatic white flowers to attract nocturnal insects and ensure continuous pollination throughout the twenty-four hours of the day.

The result is an extraordinarily resilient agricultural system.

While a conventional vineyard often depends on corrective interventions, the Case Basse ecosystem naturally creates mechanisms of balance. Biodiversity reduces sanitary pressure, favours more stable microbial populations and increases the vineyard’s ability to respond to climatic extremes.

The contribution of the natural environment was fundamental: in fact, at Case Basse, herbicides and other chemical products are never used; the soil is fertilised only with organic substances and the rows of vines are worked manually.

It is precisely because of all this that Soldera was able to produce wines of enormous depth even in years considered difficult. For him, the secret was never a miraculous cellar technique. It was the patient construction of a complete habitat.

As he wrote:

“A great wine requires a habitat that is complete, unspoilt, in a word – perfect.”

Perhaps this is one of the greatest lessons left by Gianfranco Soldera. Great wines are not born only from soil or grape variety. They are born from the harmonious interaction between climate, geology, plants, animals, microorganisms and human beings.

At Case Basse, that harmony was pursued for more than fifty years. And it remains visible in every bottle.

 

Why Soldera Remains a Unicorn

Today, when we speak of Soldera, we speak of one of the rarest and most fiercely sought-after wines on the planet. A true unicorn. Extremely limited production, combined with global demand and a presence at major auctions, gives this magnificent wine an even more imposing aura. But rarity was never the goal. It was simply the inevitable consequence of an uncompromising philosophy.

As he wrote:

“The really good things are only for the few because there isn't enough for everyone.”

A Story That Is Also Ours

Perhaps that is why Temple Wines’ relationship with Soldera has such special meaning. It is not simply about representing a legendary producer. It is about preserving a human connection that began decades ago. A connection built through friendship, learning and respect.

When Guilherme Corrêa looks at Case Basse, he does not see only one of the most important estates in the world. He sees the mentor who welcomed him when he was still a young student. He sees the endless lunches. The journeys. The conversations. The lessons about wine. And above all, the lessons about life.

Because in the end, perhaps the phrase that best defines Gianfranco Soldera has nothing to do with Brunello, Sangiovese or Montalcino.

It is instead this simple reflection:

“Beauty and goodness take a lot out of you.”

Few people paid that price so absolutely. And few left such a profound legacy. Thank you, maestro, for some of the greatest wines of our lives.

And to finish, a bonus: the tasting notes from this once-in-a-lifetime vertical of Soldera in which Guilherme participated.

SOLDERA BRUNELLO RISERVA 1997 began the tasting rather restrained, with impressions of dried flowers over wet earth, Mediterranean scrub and tea leaves. Its frame of tannins and acidity, however, was gigantic, surrounding the aromas of spice-infused fruit that opened up after one hour in an unexpected explosion.

I was moved when I remembered that I, together with my wife Paola, was the first person in the world to taste this wine while it was still in botte, even before Gianfranco himself, shortly after the end of its fermentation. 18–20 seconds of finish. Score: 18.5+ out of 20.

SOLDERA BRUNELLO RISERVA 1987 was a flower, the essence of the 1,500 rare roses in Graziella Soldera’s collection, a wine transparent to its terroir, deeply moving in its elegance, in its pure feminine class. 20–22 seconds of finish. Score: 18.5++ out of 20.

SOLDERA BRUNELLO RISERVA 1988 arrived after the 1990 with disconcerting youth, divine black fruit, a Richebourg-like density, overflowing with the characteristic energy of a Soldera. 22 seconds of aftertaste. Score: 19+ out of 20.

SOLDERA BRUNELLO RISERVA 1990: I ask forgiveness here for the inevitable cliché, but this is the best wine I have ever drunk in my life, and it is not only my opinion. It embodies everything best from every Soldera vintage in a perfect sphere: vehement and exotic, aerial yet telluric, pure energy and emotion. Antonio Galloni gave it 100 points. Of the 11 greatest Brunellos in history, 7 are Soldera on Vinous. And I give it 20 again, and again, and again.

SOLDERA BRUNELLO RISERVA CASE BASSE 1993: for the Intistieti vineyard 1993, Jancis Robinson awarded her highest score ever given to a Brunello in history, 19.5/20. Of Jancis’s five greatest Brunellos, they are Soldera. Ours was from the Case Basse vineyard, with richer soils, lower altitude and greater power. This was the wine that changed most noticeably throughout the tasting. It reminded me of the Romanée-St.-Vivant from the DRC horizontal tasting.

It was all sottobosco, game and truffles, and it finished with an angelic fruit character, carried by a high-voltage palate, absolutely incredible in its Burgundian dynamism. I gave it 19+ out of 20.

SOLDERA BRUNELLO RISERVA INTISTIETI 1995 was more immediately open, with minerals, black cherry, very savoury, elegant and massive. Ultra-long, 24 seconds. A beautiful classic that deserved my 19+ out of 20.