2016 Caiarossa: A Dutch Dream Rooted in Italian Terroir and Feng Shui Harmony

Creating Caiarossa Wines: A Dutch Dream in Italy

Caiarossa Wines is a Tuscan wine estate created in 2004 when Dutch entrepreneur Eric Albada Jelgersma purchased 79 acres of vineyards in this esteemed wine region of Italy. 

The Jelgersma family began carving a place for themselves in the Old World wine market in 1995 when Eric took a majority stake in Chateau Giscours, a historic Bordeaux house in Margaux. Just a few years after that, he expanded his French wine holdings by purchasing Château du Tertre, a neighboring 125-acre estate. 

What stood out to Eric about the Tuscan property that he would ultimately name Caiarossa was the relative newness of the estate. The purchases in Bordeaux were long-established brands dating back over a century. By contrast, Caiarossa was a blank slate that could be molded into the property of his dreams. 

With Caiarossa, Eric sought to recreate the Margaux wines he loved in the beauty of Tuscany’s legendary terroir and integrate his love of poetry, the arts, and nature. The vineyards were certified organic in 2003 and biodynamic in 2005 to further support this mission.

The vision Eric had for Caiarossa reminds us a little of what’s going on at Halter Ranch, with a similarly minded European entrepreneur creating a holistic wine brand from the ground up. 

Sadly, Eric Jelgersma passed away in 2018. The brand is now owned and managed by his children, Dennis, Dirk, and Valerie.

The Winery’s Name & Wine Label Imagery

The name ‘Caiarossa’ certainly sounds like it could be a legitimate Italian word, with a very Italian ring to it; however, ‘Caiarossa’ is actually a term coined by Jelgersma and inspired by his love of art.

The image on the brand’s wine label is based on a 4th-century B.C. statue carved in clay of the head of the Greek god Dionysus, who symbolizes the vitality of wine and its connection to the senses. 

You might recognize the word ‘Rossa’ in the brand name, which means ‘red’ in Italian. The estate created the name after the region’s distinctive red-hued soil. The ‘Caia’ portion of the word pays homage to Gaia, the Earth goddess.

Winemaking Team

Winemaking at Italy’s Caiarossa is managed by a three-man team of Alex Marchal, a highly regarded consultant in Bordeaux who also oversees the family’s properties in neighboring France, winemaker Jerome Poisson, and Alexander Van Beek, who manages the estate. 

A Winery Built Around Fung Shui

You don’t hear about feng shui, the ancient Chinese practice that focuses on harmonizing the energy, or “chi,” in one’s surroundings to promote well-being and balance, used to guide the architecture of many wineries, but the Jelgersma family is a firm believer in this philosophy. 

Feng Shui integrates color, furniture placement, natural elements, and a room’s layout to achieve this harmony.

For the winery, this meant: 

• Selecting the color red for the exterior of the cellars to mimic the soil
• Installing glass panels that draw in the sun to create natural light and, as the philosophy says, “human psychic and physical health.”
• Positioning the entrance in the “yellowest, warmest, and most tenuous part of the walls, amplifying their luminosity, and looking eastward where the sun rises and opens to a long balcony that overlooks the lower levels below.”

The site of the vineyard is perfect for gravity flow fermentation, which the winery embraces. With four stories worth of flow from top to bottom, there is no mechanical interference used in the process.  

Managing consultant Alex Marchal and winemaker Jerome Poisson believe this process is ideal for preserving the quality and characteristics of the grapes.