Your cellar, your trips, and the wines you've been tracking are right where you left them.
New here?
Free, always. Education first, we'll never sell you anything you didn't ask to see.
Already have an account?
Enter the email you signed up with and we'll send a link to choose a new password.
Caccia al Piano 1868
Merlot-led Bolgheri DOC Rosso from Caccia al Piano 1868, the Ziliani family estate at Castagneto Carducci. Vivino drinkers flag oak, blackberry and cherry; 16 months in oak ovals and ceramic amphorae shapes the frame. Drink 2025-2030.
Caccia al Piano ferments each parcel separately in stainless steel and rests the blend about 16 months across barrels, oak ovals and ceramic amphorae. On Vivino, 803 written reviews converge on oak, vanilla and tobacco over blackberry and cherry; the notes below read the wine through that consensus and the estate's own 2023 harvest report.
Oak leads the crowd record: 276 of the 803 written Vivino reviews call out oak, vanilla and tobacco, ahead of blackberry and dark fruit at 176 mentions and cherry at 107. The wood is real, not imagined: Caccia al Piano rests Ruit Hora about 16 months in barrels, 35-50 hl oak ovals and ceramic amphorae, so cedar and vanilla frame the fruit rather than bury it.
Blackberry
Cherry
Tobacco
Leather
Black pepper
Liquorice
VanillaMerlot at 60% sets a fleshy, round core, with 30% Cabernet Sauvignon adding grip and 5% each of Petit Verdot and Syrah deepening colour and spice. For 2023 the estate reports a stretched season that ripened the grapes gradually while preserving good acidity, so the medium-full body carries real freshness; Vivino's profile places it toward the bold, dry end with smooth rather than rasping tannin.
Earthy leather and a peppery, liquorice edge, 95 earthy and 63 spice mentions among reviewers, carry the finish while the dark fruit persists over fine-grained tannin.
This is Caccia al Piano's historic Bolgheri rosso, a Carducci-named blend the estate positions for approachability now and Bolgheri-classic cellaring later. The crowd agrees: 3.9 across 13,045 Vivino ratings, the 2023 opening at 4.0 and the 2008 still at 4.2; drink the 2023 from release to around 2030 with beef, lamb or game.
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.
The scores below weigh the 2023's structure, a 60% Merlot lead raised 16 months in wood, the £43 UK price against its EUR 21 Italian shelf price, and a Vivino record of 3.9 from 13,045 ratings.
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.
A Bolgheri DOC rosso from the Ziliani family estate with a Carducci name and a top-band 2008 behind it reads well at the table; £43 sits below icon-label money.
A 60% Merlot lead and the approachability Caccia al Piano itself claims make this an easy first Bolgheri, though £43 and a French-variety blend make it a considered buy rather than a first Italian red.
Bolgheri DOC mandates no long ageing, but the estate cites classic cellarability and the 2008 still rates 4.2 on Vivino; the 2023 window runs to around 2030.
Scoring is rule-based and deterministic. The model and weightings are documented in our Wine Fit Score methodology.
A compact view of what the Bolgheri denomination actually requires, and how this bottle sits inside it. Pulled from the official Italian disciplinare.
Compare tracked offers from verified retailers at a glance. Stock is shown only where the retailer exposes it. Logos, sale pricing, and the strongest offer are surfaced first.
The estate's harvest report describes 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, keeping good acidity and fully ripe skins.
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.
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.
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 cru vineyard parcels.
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.
Bolgheri falls within Tuscany , covering Castagneto Carducci · Livorno · Toscana.
Caccia al Piano harvests each variety and parcel separately by hand into 15 kg crates with a berry-level inspection before de-stemming, a labour bill bulk Tuscan reds never carry.
The 2023 rested about 16 months in barrels, 35-50 hl oak ovals and ceramic amphorae, then 6 more in bottle; two years of cellar stock ties up capital before a bottle is sold.
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.
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.
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.
Le Enoteca dei Ferrari in Carrara lists 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.
Dishes that complement this wine
Vivino's crowd pairs Ruit Hora with beef, lamb, veal, pasta and game. The matches below work from the wine's structure: 60% Merlot flesh, 30% Cabernet Sauvignon grip and the fresh acidity the 2023 season preserved.
Seared beef protein and char soften the Cabernet Sauvignon third of this blend while the 60% Merlot core keeps the mid-palate plush. Vivino's crowd puts beef first among Ruit Hora pairings, 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 →
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 →
Tomato-led ragu runs on acidity, and the estate's 2023 harvest report describes grapes that ripened slowly enough to hold good acidity. That freshness meets the sauce's tang while the wine's blackberry fruit matches the meat; Vivino drinkers list pasta and veal among its best tables.
Try with: Lasagna · Agnello Ragu Lucano · Cotoletta alla bolognese · More pairings →
The 95 earthy mentions in Ruit Hora's Vivino profile, leather and smoke above all, 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 →
Capsaicin amplifies alcohol and drying oak, and with 276 oak mentions in its Vivino 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 →
Caccia al Piano cites cellarability classic to sea-facing Bolgheri for Ruit Hora, and the crowd record backs it: the 2008 still rates 4.2 on Vivino while the 2023 opened at 4.0 from 114 ratings. Drink the 2023 from release to around 2030.
Best in the years above; holds without falling over either side.
A short splash decant softens the first-pour edge and opens the aromatics.
Bolgheri DOC mandates no long ageing, but the estate cites classic cellarability and the 2008 still rates 4.2 on Vivino; the 2023 window runs to around 2030.
£43.00 is the lowest tracked offer for the current vintage and we have no signal of further discounting.
Read directly from each retailer’s public product page once a day. Last refresh: 8 Jul 2026, 21:33 BST. We do not hold stock and we do not accept payment for placement.
Confidence · HighDrawn 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 · MediumFrom the official Italian disciplinare for this denomination, cross-checked against the Ministry of Agriculture register.
Confidence · HighOur 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 · MediumStyle guidance for this kind of wine at this price point. Treat it as advice, not a forecast for the bottle in your hand.
Confidence · MediumThe 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 cru vineyards 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 amphorae, after which the parcel lots are blended and the wine spends a further 6 months in bottle before release.
From release through to around 2030. The estate's 2023 harvest report describes gradual ripening that kept good acidity, so it drinks well young, while Caccia al Piano also cites the cellarability classic to sea-facing Bolgheri.
£43 a bottle at The Great Wine Co, easing to £38.70 per bottle on a mixed order of 12 or more at the time of writing. The same 2023 lists 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, 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.
4 retailers
Bolgheri
4 retailers
£118.00
4 retailers
Bolgheri
4 retailers
£199.26
3 retailers
Bolgheri
3 retailers
£46.16
3 retailers
Bolgheri
3 retailers
£20.70
£21.39
Affiliate disclosure. Some links above are affiliate links. If you buy through them we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. Editorial coverage, ratings and tasting notes are written independently and a retailer cannot pay to be listed or to be ranked higher.
How retailer prices are sourced.
Prices and stock are read from each retailer’s public product page once a day. Outbound buy links carry rel="nofollow sponsored noopener". The list is sorted by price; we do not accept payment for placement.
What we will never do. Imply we tasted a bottle when we didn’t. Imply stock when a retailer is out. Imply independence on links that are paid affiliate links.
Verified retailers
Price comparison
Updated daily
