Today I complete my tastings of this year’s releases from Tuscany’s Tenuta San Guido estate by reviewing the 2023 vintage of Sassicaia. The wine will not be released until June but I was lucky enough to be sent pre-release samples. Some merchants currently have pre-release offers for this wine.
The wine was very well received when it was shown to the press in February, with RobertParker.com’s Monica Larner awarding it a 100 point score. Sassicaia’s 1985 vintage was the first Italian wine to be given a 100 point score by Robert Parker jnr. and these are the only two vintages of einr from the estate to get this perfect score. So I guess the questions are is this better than the legendary 1985? and is this the best Sassicaia made to date?
The Tenuta San Guido estate is located in Bolgheri, the Tuscan region of Maremma. Owned since the Middle Ages by the della Gehardesca family, the estate only started producing the wines for which it is famous in the 1940s and only commercialized them for the first time in 1971. Since 1994 the Bolgheri region ahs had its own DOC and since 2013 Sassicaia has had its own Bolgheri Sassicaia DOC.
To find out more about this wine, its price and where to purchase it go to wine-searcher.com: https://www.wine-searcher.com/find/tenute+st+guido+sassicaia+bolgheri+tuscany+italy/2023?referring_site=DCA
▶️ CHAPTERS:
0:00 Tenuta San Guido Sassicaia 2023 wine label
0:15 Background of Sassicaia
0:25 When shown to the press in February received some enthusiastic reviews
0:35 Monica Larner from RobertParker.com gave it a score of 100
0:45 Was compared to the legendary Sassicaia 1985 – first Italian wine given 100 points by Parker
0:52 Is this the best Sassicaia that has been made to date?
1:06 Size and location of Tenuta San Guido
1:18 Belonged to the della Gherardesca family for over 1200 years
1:29 Named after a 13th Century ancestor – San Guido della Gherardesca
1:39 More recently Tenuta San Guido has been managed with a forward- thinking approach
1:50 Other agriculture on the estate
2:33 When Mario Incisa della Rocchetta marries Clarice della Gherardesca her parents give them the estate
2:40 Mario’s experiments with winemaking eventually transform the area into a quality wine region
3:00 First commercializes these wines when he releases the 1968 vintage in 1971
3:10 By 1994 Bolgheri has its own DOC
3:26 Sassicaia is given its own DOC Bolgheri Sassicaia
3:31 Mario recognised the similarity of the soils here to those of the Graves in Bordeaux
3:41 Soil types
3:51 Meaning of the name Sassicaia
4:01 Altitude and aspect of the vineyards
4:11 2023 vintage
5:22 Harvest dates
5:44 All the fruit was hand picked
5:54 Oldest vines in the higher altitude vineyards were picked last
6:04 Yields
6:14 Healthy, balanced grapes reached the winery
6:24 WINEMAKING – at the winery the fruit was meticulously sorted
6:34 Fermentation occurs in stainless steel tanks at 28-29 degrees C
6:48 Fermentation was instigated with autochthonous yeasts selected from the vineyards
7:11 Frequent pump-overs during maceration
7:22 Spontaneous malolactic conversion
7:32 Aged in 225 litre French oak barriques 40% new – 60% 2nd and 3rd fill barrels
7:44 Aged in barrel for 24 months
7:54 Blend
8:06 Due to be released to international customers in June sfter 3-6 months bottle-age
8:12 TASTING – Appearance
8:51 Aromas
10:09 Palate
11:40 Conclusions
11:52 Score
12:40 Is this the best Sassicaia made to date?
13:00 Ability to age
13:21 Thanks, closing remarks and sign-off
▶️ To view my video tasting of Tenuta San Guido Guidalberto Toscana IGT 2024, follow this link: https://youtu.be/fmDpUNpOfpY
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