Sassicaia - Tenuta San Guido - 2019

75 cl

Falstaff: 99 points

Robert Parker: 98 points

Alcohol content: 14% vol.

Grape varieties: Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc

Vinification:

HARVEST The entirely manual harvest began in the second week of September with the Cabernet Franc grapes and continued with the Cabernet Sauvignon grapes. It began in the vineyards at lower altitudes and ended in the first ten days of October in the vineyards on the slopes above 300 metres above sea level.

VINIFICATION Selection of the grapes using a sorting table, soft pressing and gentle destemming of the grapes using suitable machinery so as not to destroy the integrity of the berries. Alcoholic fermentation (completely spontaneous and without the addition of external yeasts) was completed in mid-October and took place regularly at a maximum temperature of 26-27 °C. Malolactic fermentation, which took place in stainless steel vats, was completed regularly at the end of November thanks to the lower outside temperatures. At the beginning of December, the wine was filled into barrels from the first ten days of December 2019. MATURING Once malolactic fermentation was complete, the wine was aged in French oak barriques and a small proportion in American oak, where it was matured for between 20 and 25 months. The length of ageing is technically determined on the basis of the seasonal development of the vintage.

Tasting note:

Powerful, sparkling ruby colour. Intense and clear nose with lots of concise fruit, blackcurrant and mulberry, then fine notes of cedar needles and spicy cedar wood, light resinous notes in the background. The attack is cool and polished, lots of juicy dark berry fruit, opens up with grippy, dense tannins in many layers, builds for a long time, very powerful on the finish, rich pressure, very long finish, some tobacco and subtle mint notes on the finish, a wine with a great and long future, pressure and elegance.

Tenuta San Guido:

The famous Tenuta San Guido vineyard on the Tuscan Mediterranean coast near Bolgheri is located on a 4.7 km long, straight avenue of 2,500 cypress trees. Only 54 hectares of the huge estate are planted with vines. The historic very first vineyard is located at 300 metres above sea level directly above the current Tenuta dell'Ornellaia and is only 1.5 hectares in size. Mario Incisa della Rocchetta had already planted Cabernet Sauvignon here in 1942. However, it was not until the 1960s that the estate was expanded to include the "Aianuova" and "Sassicaia" ("stony field") vineyards, both located near the Cipressa, and the wine was also sold on the market. In 1968, the first official Sassicaia vintage comprised only 4,000 bottles. Today, seven vineyards produce around 180,000 bottles a year, but this is nowhere near enough to satisfy the enormous demand.

The winery is owned by Marchese Nicoló Incisa della Rocchetta, who comes from Piedmont and deliberately does not want to produce a fashionable or "Parker wine". He deliberately avoids Merlot and keeps yields low. The style of the house is based on elegance and finesse, not on sheer opulence. A Sassicaia needs some time to mature and is often underestimated when young.