Priscilla Incisa della Rocchetta reveals how Tenuta San Guido balances its iconic Sassicaia legacy with modern challenges. Through the Amorim Wine Vision project, she discusses preserving historical consistency while adapting to climate change through resilience rather than drastic measures. The focus remains on guarding authenticity, sustainable stewardship, and evolving communication without compromising the brand’s pioneering spirit.
Sassicaia, an icon of Italian wine, is a brand that evokes tradition, excellence, and a bold pioneering vision. But what happens when the weight of such a significant legacy passes into the hands of a new generation? In an era marked by rapid climate change, digitalization, and an increasingly demanding global market, the challenge is not only to preserve the past but to reinterpret it in a way that projects it into the future.
The exclusive interview with Priscilla Incisa della Rocchetta, External Relations Manager of Tenuta San Guido, part of the Amorim Wine Vision project, explores this very delicate balance. Amorim Wine Vision is an initiative acting as a catalyst for ideas, a thought network that gathers the original visions of entrepreneurs and managers in the wine sector to share know-how and experiences. The discussion with Priscilla Incisa della Rocchetta perfectly embodies the spirit of this project, offering a penetrating perspective on generational turnover and how new leadership is managing the legacy of a global brand.
The philosophy emerging from her words is clear: it is not about reinventing, but guarding. The task of the new generation is to maintain the historical consistency of an iconic brand while adapting communication and management to the needs of the modern world. Instead of overturning, new tools are used to strengthen an original message, a delicate balance uniting fidelity to the territory and the ability to dialogue with different audiences.
The interview highlights a holistic approach where adaptation to climate change is not seen as a drastic response, but as a continuous exercise of small, daily gestures aimed at making the vine more resilient.
The central competence, according to Priscilla, is communication, understood not as aggressive marketing, but as the ability to govern the intangible value of the brand with discretion.
Finally, the “calculated risk,” part of Tenuta San Guido’s DNA, takes on different forms today. If in the past it was a counter-current agricultural choice, today it concerns unstable markets and passing trends. The limit, however, remains immutable: to remain faithful to the territory, its microclimate, and the philosophy that gave birth to Sassicaia. An enlightening approach that unites respect for the past and vision for the future.
Inheriting an iconic brand like Sassicaia entails the responsibility of preserving its value. From the perspective of generational turnover, how do you balance the need to maintain the brand’s historical consistency with the introduction of innovations, for example in communication or distribution?
I believe our task is not to reinvent, but to guard. Sassicaia has a precise identity, the result of decades of observation and work. The challenge for us, representing the new generation, is to maintain this consistency without closing ourselves off to today’s world. Digital communication, relationships with markets, and the ways wine is perceived abroad have changed significantly. We, therefore, try to use new tools, reinforcing the original message. It is a delicate balance: remaining faithful to the spirit of the wine and its territory, but at the same time dialoguing with different audiences and languages.
What is the main operational challenge that the new generation must face to ensure the production continuity of Sassicaia, considering new factors like climate change and the evolution of cellar technologies?
More than managing climate change, we prefer to speak of continuous adaptation. Nature has always changed, but today we are more aware that these shifts require targeted responses. Our work consists of making the vines more resilient: we use cover crops to increase soil organic matter, grassing to maintain freshness, and light tillage to respect fertility. Late pruning helps us protect buds from spring frosts, while during periods of stress, we support the plants with natural extracts. It is a path made of small daily gestures, not drastic solutions. In the cellar, modern technologies offer us important support, for example in reducing energy consumption or optimizing processes, but they must never change the style of the wine. For us, the sense is to work better, not to transform what the territory gives us.
In the generational transition, how does the dialogue evolve between the previous generation’s vision, focused on production and the intrinsic value of the wine, and the new needs of brand management at a global level?
Our grandfather Mario had a pioneering intuition, and my father Nicolò had the strength to transform it into a solid entrepreneurial project. His generation took Sassicaia outside family boundaries, opening it to the world. Today the company is composed of a team of highly competent professionals, and the sensitivity of our generation, composed of myself and four other cousins, adds greater attention to communication and brand management at an international level. It is not about replacing one vision with another, but putting them in dialogue, remaining faithful to the original vision.
Young leadership often brings a new sensitivity towards themes like sustainability. What specific initiatives or projects in this field are you implementing at Tenuta San Guido under the impulse of the new generation?
Actually, sensitivity towards nature has been part of our history since forever. In 1959, grandfather Mario decided to transform an area of the Estate into the first private wildlife refuge in Italy, today recognized as a European Special Area of Conservation. This gesture reminds us that sustainability is not a fashion choice, but a commitment that spans generations. Today we try to continue in that direction: we have progressively eliminated the use of chemical herbicides, reduced synthetic insecticides thanks to natural methods like sexual confusion, increased biodiversity with targeted sowing, and introduced soil management practices that improve fertility. We do not pretend to have the solution to everything, but we try to do our part, day by day.
How is the approach to wine tourism and hospitality evolving with the new generational structure, to respond to the expectations of an increasingly demanding international public?
Tenuta San Guido was never conceived as a tourist site. It is a property of 2,500 hectares, made of woods, olive groves, vineyards, and architecture integrated into the landscape. We have always chosen a form of discreet hospitality, limited almost exclusively to professional operators, because we believe that true value lies in authenticity. Those who visit us find the silence of nature, the harmony of a territory preserved in its biodiversity, and the history of a family that, together with a team of passionate people, seeks to guard this equilibrium.
Which competence, that perhaps the previous generation considered secondary, do you consider fundamental today to guide Tenuta San Guido, and what strategy are you using to develop it within the team?
A competence that we consider central today is communication. We have never been oriented towards aggressive marketing strategies, but we perceive the need to govern the intangible value of what we do ever better, with authenticity and discretion. We also feel the responsibility to convey to young people and those who meet us why a wine is tied to a landscape, a way of living, a family history, and a vision.
The relationship with the distribution network and importers is fundamental for a brand like yours. Have there been changes in the approach and dialogue with strategic partners with the entry of the new generation, or not?
The distribution network is an integral part of our history. Many importers have accompanied us for over forty years, with relationships born from a handshake and grown with mutual trust. This spirit has not changed, and it is something we are grateful for. Perhaps today the difference lies in the dialogue: markets are more complex and require greater sharing of objectives and values. We therefore try to maintain more frequent contact and face challenges together, with the same spirit of collaboration that has always bound us.
The concept of “calculated risk” is part of Tenuta San Guido’s DNA, starting from its foundation. Does innovation today entail different risks compared to the past? And what is the limit that cannot be crossed to protect the identity of Sassicaia?
We can say that risk is part of our history! Our grandfather Mario took it when he decided to plant Cabernet on the heights of Bolgheri, against all odds. Today the risks are different: the changing climate, unstable markets, passing fads. It is not always easy to understand the right path, and this reminds us that the balance is fragile. There is, however, a clear limit. Innovate, adapt, but always remaining faithful to the territory, its unique microclimate, the lands we have cultivated for generations, and the philosophy that guided the birth of the wine. Everything else is a continuous exercise of measure and listening.
Key points
- Guardianship: the goal is not reinventing, but guarding the identity while using modern tools to reinforce the original message.
- Climate Strategy: adaptation relies on resilience through daily gestures (cover crops, pruning) rather than drastic, style-altering solutions.
- Leadership Balance: the new generation focuses on harmonizing visions, adding international brand management to the established production excellence.
- Discreet Hospitality: tourism remains limited to professionals to preserve the silence and authenticity of the biodiverse estate.
- Calculated Risk: innovation is essential but must remain strictly faithful to the territory and the founder’s original philosophy.
