Regional Institute of Wine and Oil

Tachis, the memory of the Irvo staff

Giacomo Tachis' first "stop" in Sicily was in 1992. At IRVO, in that period, the president was Diego Planeta. It was he who invited him as a technical consultant. It is with the wise contribution of Tachis to the research activity of the microvinification cellar of the Regional Institute of Wine and Oil that the "renaissance" of Sicilian wines began, today recognized throughout the world as wines of excellence and strong territorial identity. The Sicily of Wine owes a lot to Giacomo Tachis, the “poet” oenologist. So, a few days after his death, we wanted to remember him by publishing below some pages of the book that was dedicated to him a few years ago: “Giacomo Tachis, corsair winemaker” by Bruno Donati, Terra Ferma publishing house.

“The new Sicily of Wine will always be grateful to Giacomo Tachis – comments the director of IRVO, Lucio Monte – his contribution to the growth in quality of the wine production of the various Sicilian territories remains unparalleled“.

Moreover, the period in which Tachis worked at the service of Sicilian oenology coincides precisely with that of the growth in the number of prestigious Sicilian companies. Today's Sicily of Wine is very different from that of the 1980s: we are now far from the over 4.5 million hectoliters of bulk wine that were sold. Today the wines, well packaged, are identified with important territories from many points of view, and enjoy a global market. But it is thanks to intuition, followed by careful planning and "strong" team work, that the process of "repositioning" the island's wine was made possible. Alongside the Planeta president, a group of IRVO managers: Vincenzo Melia, Dario Di Bernardi, Antonio Sparacio, Felice Capraro and later Daniele Oliva. With them Tachis begins the "revolution". New and innovative winemaking protocols for red wines are starting to be established. And the native vines stand out. “Tachis realized that Nero d'Avola could become the flagship grape variety of Sicily. He managed to create new wines, in step with consumer tastes and an expression of the various territories of the island: with him the concept of "Sicily, the continent of wine" developed. – says Sparacio – He was deeply in love with Frappato and Grillo. For us Dr. Tachis was a great teacher, a person of great humility and with a profound knowledge of wine science." Dario Di Bernardi attributes a particular significance to the Mozia Wine Project of the year 2005: “It was an oenological and cultural project at the same time, an innovative prototype of wine-territory, starting from the restoration plan of the ancient vineyard and the vinification of overripe grapes, up to the choice of packaging with a high symbolic-cultural content and the tasting-narration in the context of national and international events".

Here is the link where you can consult the book. We thank the author Bruno Donati and the Terra Ferma publishing house.