DOC Red

Ruit Hora Bolgheri Rosso, Caccia al Piano 1868

Caccia al Piano 1868
Grapes
Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Syrah, Petit Verdot
Denomination
Bolgheri DOC
Region
Tuscany
ABV
13%
Drink
Now to 2030

Merlot-led Bolgheri DOC Rosso from Caccia al Piano 1868, the Ziliani family estate at Castagneto Carducci. Oak, blackberry and cherry lead; 16 months in oak ovals and ceramic jars shape the frame. Drink 2025-2030.

Best price
£24.60 Save 6%

2023 · 75cl · checked 8 Oct

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Where to buy Ruit Hora Bolgheri Rosso

£24.60 best price · 5 retailers in stock · checked 8 Oct 2026

Stock is shown where the retailer publishes it, offers are sorted by price, and unavailable offers can’t be clicked.

Vino Best price Save 6% 2023 · 75cl · checked 8 Oct
Read from the retailer's page once a day. Confidence is low, so treat it as a guide and confirm at the retailer.
£24.60 was regular price £26.17 £32.80/L
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Xtrawine Best price 2023 · 75cl · checked 7 Oct
Read from the retailer's page once a day. Confidence is low, so treat it as a guide and confirm at the retailer.
£25.00 £33.33/L
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Greatwine Best price Save 16% 2023 · 75cl · checked 8 Oct
Read from the retailer's page once a day. Confidence is low, so treat it as a guide and confirm at the retailer.
£36.00 was regular price £43.00 £48.00/L
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Great Wines Direct Best price 2023 · 75cl · checked 8 Oct
Read from the retailer's page once a day. Confidence is low, so treat it as a guide and confirm at the retailer.
£39.41 £52.55/L
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Majestic Best price 2023 · 75cl · checked 6 Oct
Read from the retailer's page once a day. Confidence is low, so treat it as a guide and confirm at the retailer.
£45.00 £60.00/L
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Stock status is read from each retailer’s page once a day and may lag.

Tasting Notes

Ruit Hora in the glass: oak first, then the fruit

Caccia al Piano ferments each parcel separately in stainless steel and rests the blend about 16 months across barrels, oak ovals and ceramic jars. Oak, vanilla and tobacco lead over blackberry and cherry; the notes below read the wine through that frame and the estate's own 2023 harvest report.

Tasted by
ItalianWines editorial
Tasted on
10 July 2026
Source
Drinker consensus · confidence Medium
Typical of Cabernet Sauvignon
Body Light / Full
Tannins Smooth / Grippy
Sweetness Dry / Sweet
Acidity Soft / Crisp
Nose

Oak leads: vanilla, tobacco and cedar sit in front of blackberry, dark fruit and cherry. The wood is real, not imagined. Caccia al Piano rests Ruit Hora about 16 months in barrels, 35-50 hl oak ovals and ceramic jars, so cedar and vanilla frame the fruit rather than bury it.

BlackberryBlackberry
CherryCherry
TobaccoTobacco
LeatherLeather
Black pepperBlack pepper
LiquoriceLiquorice
VanillaVanilla
Palate

Merlot at 60% sets a fleshy, round core. 30% Cabernet Sauvignon adds grip, and 5% each of Petit Verdot and Syrah deepen colour and spice. The 2023 was a stretched season that ripened the grapes gradually while keeping good acidity, so the medium-full body carries real freshness. It sits toward the bold, dry end, with smooth rather than rasping tannin.

Finish

Earthy leather and a peppery, liquorice edge carry the finish, while the dark fruit persists over fine-grained tannin.

Overall

This is Caccia al Piano's historic Bolgheri rosso, a Carducci-named blend the estate positions for approachability now and Bolgheri-classic cellaring later. A well-liked wine across its vintages. Drink the 2023 from release to around 2030 with beef, lamb or game.

Drink now Best by 2030
Live UK pricing

Buying the 2023 Ruit Hora in the UK

One UK listing is live: The Great Wine Co in Bath at £43, easing to £38.70 a bottle on mixed 12+ orders. In Italy the same 2023 sits near EUR 21 on enoteca shelves, so the UK premium is duty, VAT and freight rather than scarcity.

Best price · 75 cl £24.60 at vino
Price spread £24.60 - £45.00 Across 5 UK retailers tracked
Retailers tracked 5UK 5 in stock
Vintages live 2023 Current release: 2023
Per-litre (75 cl basis) £32.80 Per-litre price for the lowest current offer
Last checked 8 Oct 2026 Refreshed once every 24 hours
Wine fit score

How Ruit Hora fits: table, cellar and occasion

The scores below weigh the 2023's structure and its 60% Merlot lead, raised 16 months in wood. They set the £43 UK price against its EUR 21 Italian shelf, and count a well-liked drinker record too.

Best with food 8.6/10

Merlot flesh with 30% Cabernet Sauvignon grip and the good acidity the estate reports for 2023 covers steak, lamb, ragu and game without demanding cellar time.

Best for an occasion 8.2/10

A Bolgheri DOC rosso from the Ziliani family estate, with a Carducci name and a well-liked 2008 behind it, reads well at the table. At £43 it sits below icon-label money.

Best intro to this style 7.2/10

A 60% Merlot lead and the approachability Caccia al Piano itself claims make this an easy first Bolgheri. At £43, though, and as a French-variety blend, it is a considered buy rather than a first Italian red.

Best for cellar 7.0/10

Bolgheri DOC mandates no long ageing, but the estate cites classic keeping power and drinkers still like the 2008. The 2023 window runs to around 2030.

Best value 6.0/10

At £43 in the UK against EUR 21 on Italian enoteca shelves, with a well-liked drinker record, this reads as fair rather than sharp UK value. The £38.70 mixed-dozen price improves it.

Best everyday bottle 3.0/10

Single-bottle pricing at £43 and a 22-month ageing programme make this a weekend and dinner-party red, not a weeknight pour.

Scoring is rule-based and deterministic. The model and weightings are documented in our Wine Fit Score methodology.

Denomination Compliance Snapshot

Bolgheri in five fields

A compact view of what the Bolgheri denomination actually requires, and how this bottle sits inside it. Pulled from the official Italian disciplinare.

Allowed grapes
5 varieties listed
This bottle: Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Syrah, Petit Verdot.
Minimum ageing
No statutory minimum
Producers release on their own schedule; 4 to 6 months in steel is typical.
Region / area
Livorno
Source: Disciplinare.
Style
DOC · Bolgheri
Minimum ABV at this colour: 11.5%.
Classification
DOC (Denominazione di Origine Controllata)
What that means →
Vintages

2023 at Caccia al Piano: a long, acid-fresh season

The estate's harvest report records a mild winter, spring rain into May, a hot summer broken by three rain events, then a dry September. Picking ran from 31 August for the Merlot to the first week of October for the Cabernet Sauvignon. That kept good acidity and fully ripe skins.

2023 Current release
Best price
£24.60
Retailers
5 in stock
ABV
13.0%
Window
Drink now through 2030

A mild winter, spring rain into May and a hot summer with three rain events ran into a dry, sunny September; picking went from 31 August (Merlot) to the first week of October (Cabernet Sauvignon), preserving good acidity and fully ripe skins per the estate's harvest report. Approachable on release and built to hold to around 2030.

2023 Current release
Best price
£24.60
Retailers
5 in stock
ABV
13.0%
Window
Drink now through 2030

A mild winter, spring rain into May and a hot summer with three rain events ran into a dry, sunny September; picking went from 31 August (Merlot) to the first week of October (Cabernet Sauvignon), preserving good acidity and fully ripe skins per the estate's harvest report. Approachable on release and built to hold to around 2030.

Drink-now / hold guidance reflects general style cues for this wine, not a forecast for a specific bottle. Where vintage-level editorial notes exist, they appear above.

The disciplinare, the place, the label

Bolgheri DOC and the estate on Via Bolgherese

Caccia al Piano 1868 farms at Via Bolgherese 279 in Castagneto Carducci, the sea-facing corridor that made Bolgheri DOC famous for Merlot and Cabernet blends. Ruit Hora is the estate's historic Bolgheri rosso, assembled from its own vineyard parcels.

01

DOC, DOCG, IGT: what the badges mean

Italian wine law sorts bottles into a pyramid. DOCG sits at the top: tightly drawn boundaries, prescribed grapes, mandatory ageing, government tasting before release. DOC is the same idea with looser thresholds. IGT (Indicazione Geografica Tipica) is broader still, requiring only that 85% of the grapes come from the named territory.

Bolgheri is in the DOC tier. That is not a quality verdict, it is a description of how much freedom the producer has at vinification and ageing.

02

The denomination rules, in detail

  • Allowed grapes. 5 varieties listed in the disciplinare
  • Yield ceiling. 9.0 tonnes per hectare
  • Minimum ABV. 11.5% vol
  • Minimum ageing. No statutory minimum - producers release on their own schedule
  • Tasting panel. Mandatory pre-release tasting commission
03

Region and area context

Bolgheri falls within Tuscany, covering Livorno.

Bolgheri DOC zone The producer Wine route in the zone

Made at Caccia al Piano 1868, Castagneto Carducci. Directions

Wine route in the zone: Strada del Vino Costa degli Etruschi.

04

Reading the label

  • Caccia al Piano 1868Producer / estate
  • Cabernet Sauvignon · Merlot · Syrah · Petit VerdotGrape varieties
  • Bolgheri DOCGeographic indication and quality tier
  • 2023Vintage (year of harvest)
  • 13.0% volAlcohol by volume
05

What sits behind the price of Ruit Hora Bolgheri Rosso

Tracked from
£24.60
Direction
Mostly cost up
Drivers
4 up / 2 down
Main factor
Estate cru fruit, hand-picked into 15 kg crates
  1. 01

    Estate cru fruit, hand-picked into 15 kg crates

    Cost up

    Caccia al Piano harvests each variety and parcel separately by hand into 15 kg crates, with a berry-level inspection before de-stemming. That is a labour bill bulk Tuscan reds never carry.

  2. 02

    22 months of ageing across ovals, amphorae and bottle

    Cost up

    The 2023 rested about 16 months in barrels, 35-50 hl oak ovals and ceramic jars, then 6 more in bottle. Two years of cellar stock ties up capital before a bottle is sold.

  3. 03

    UK duty and VAT on the £43 listing

    Cost up

    HMRC duty on still wine at or under 15% ABV is £2.67 a bottle, and VAT accounts for £7.17 of the £43 Great Wine Co price. So £9.84, roughly 23%, is tax before any wine changes hands.

  4. 04

    A Via Bolgherese address in Bolgheri DOC

    Cost up

    The estate fronts Via Bolgherese in Castagneto Carducci, the road Sassicaia and Ornellaia made famous. Land and grape prices along that corridor are built into every Bolgheri DOC bottle.

  5. 05

    Mixed-dozen discount at The Great Wine Co

    Cost down

    The single-bottle price is £43 but a mixed order of 12 or more drops it to £38.70, a 10% saving the retailer funds from case economics.

  6. 06

    EUR 21 on Italian enoteca shelves

    Cost down

    Le Enoteca dei Ferrari in Carrara sells the same 2023 at EUR 21, a signal the liquid itself is mid-priced Bolgheri. The rest of the UK £43 is freight, duty, VAT and margin.

01

Estate cru fruit, hand-picked into 15 kg crates

Cost up

Caccia al Piano harvests each variety and parcel separately by hand into 15 kg crates, with a berry-level inspection before de-stemming. That is a labour bill bulk Tuscan reds never carry.

Food Pairing

Dishes that fit a Merlot-led Bolgheri rosso

Beef, lamb, veal, pasta and game are its natural tables. The matches below work from the wine's structure: 60% Merlot flesh, 30% Cabernet Sauvignon grip and the fresh acidity the 2023 season preserved.

Tannin softening Strong match

Chargrilled steak and bistecca alla fiorentina

Seared beef protein and char soften the Cabernet Sauvignon third of this blend, while the 60% Merlot core keeps the mid-palate plush. Beef is its first pairing, and the fine-grained tannin the estate builds over 16 months in wood wants exactly that protein and fat.

Try with: Fiorentina steak · Ribeye steak · Fillet steak · Sirloin steak · More pairings →

Body matching Strong match

Slow-cooked lamb, from shank to rack

Lamb's sweet fat and dense fibre ask for a medium-full red with structure, and 30% Cabernet Sauvignon plus Petit Verdot's colour and grip provide it. The good acidity Caccia al Piano reports from the long 2023 season keeps braised cuts from sitting heavy.

Try with: Lamb shank · Leg of lamb · Rack of lamb · Lamb chops · More pairings →

Acidity matching Good match

Lasagne and lamb ragu

Tomato-led ragu runs on acidity, and the 2023 grapes ripened slowly enough to hold good acidity. That freshness meets the sauce's tang while the wine's blackberry fruit matches the meat; pasta and veal are among its best tables.

Try with: Lasagna · Agnello Ragu Lucano · Cotoletta alla bolognese · More pairings →

Aromatic bridge Good match

Venison, wellington and porcini earthiness

Earthy leather and smoke in Ruit Hora bridge straight into game, mushroom duxelles and porcini. Aroma-to-aroma matches like this trade on the wine's tobacco and savoury register, not just its weight.

Try with: Venison Stew · Beef wellington · Porcini mushroom risotto · More pairings →

Avoid Clash

Chilli heat and heavy spice

Chilli heat amplifies alcohol and drying oak, and with its oak-led profile and 13% ABV, Ruit Hora turns harsh against hot chilli. Pour a chilled Vermentino di Sardegna or an off-dry Moscato d'Asti with these and keep this bottle for the roast.

Skip with: Crispy chilli beef · Szechuan beef · Lamb bhuna · Tandoori lamb chops · Pairing guide →

Drinking + cellar

Cellaring Ruit Hora: drink now or keep to 2030

Caccia al Piano points to the keeping power classic to sea-facing Bolgheri for Ruit Hora. Older bottles bear it out: drinkers still like the 2008, and the 2023 is already well liked. Drink the 2023 from release to around 2030.

Drinking window
2025 → 2030

Best in the years above; holds without falling over either side.

Decanting
1 hour

A short splash decant softens the first-pour edge and opens the aromatics.

Serving temperature
16-18°C

Aim for the cooler end on a warm day; warmer end opens up more aromatics.

Cellar potential
High

Bolgheri DOC mandates no long ageing, but the estate cites classic keeping power and drinkers still like the 2008. The 2023 window runs to around 2030.

Buy now or wait?
Buy now

£24.60 for a 75cl bottle of the 2023, at Vino, is the best price we track, and we have no signal of further discounting.

Sources & trust

Sources behind this Ruit Hora page

Prices & stock

Read directly from each retailer’s public product page once a day. Last refresh: 8 Oct 2026, 02:13 BST. We do not hold stock and we do not accept payment for placement.

Confidence · High
Tasting notes

Drawn from what drinkers consistently report on Vivino and Wine-Searcher, summarised in our own words. A crowd read across many tasters, not a single critic.

Confidence · Medium
Appellation rules & ageing

From the official Italian disciplinare for this denomination, cross-checked against the Ministry of Agriculture register.

Confidence · High
Why it costs what it costs

Our reading of the price, drawn from the disciplinare, public UK duty rates, and typical landed-cost benchmarks. Not a quote from the producer or a retailer.

Confidence · Medium
Drink window & cellar potential

Style guidance for this kind of wine at this price point. Treat it as advice, not a forecast for the bottle in your hand.

Confidence · Medium
Related

Ruit Hora's connections: grape, estate, Bolgheri, Tuscany

Producer
Caccia al Piano 1868 Tuscany
Grapes
Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot Syrah Petit Verdot
Denomination
Bolgheri DOC
Region
Tuscany Region guide

Common Questions

The 2023 is 60% Merlot, 30% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Petit Verdot and 5% Syrah, per Caccia al Piano's published tech sheet. All four varieties grow in the estate's own vineyard plots at Castagneto Carducci.

Caccia al Piano 1868, a Bolgheri estate on Via Bolgherese in Castagneto Carducci, Tuscany. It is owned by the Ziliani family, best known for Guido Berlucchi in Franciacorta, and run as its own Bolgheri property.

For about 16 months in barrels, 35-50 hl oak ovals and ceramic jars. The parcel lots are then blended, and the wine spends a further 6 months in bottle before release.

From release through to around 2030. The 2023 ripened gradually and kept good acidity, so it drinks well young. Caccia al Piano also points to the keeping power classic to sea-facing Bolgheri.

At The Great Wine Co it costs £43 a bottle, easing to £38.70 per bottle on a mixed order of 12 or more at the time of writing. The same 2023 sells near EUR 21 in Italian enotecas, so most of the UK difference is duty, VAT and freight.

It is Latin for "the hour flies", taken from a poem by Giosue Carducci. He is the 19th-century poet so tied to the village that it renamed itself Castagneto Carducci. The estate uses the name as a nod to those local roots.

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Ruit Hora Bolgheri Rosso
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