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Tenuta San Guido Sassicaia IGT

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$169.95

Year: 2005
Region: Tuscany
Country: Italy
Wine Spectator: 94
Wine Advocate: 93
Gambero Rosso: Tre Bicchieri
Australian Wine with Jeremy Oliver: 88
Red Wine

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"Dark ruby in color, showing aromas of currant, new oak and fresh herbs, with hints of spices. Full-bodied, with very chewy tannins and an outstanding concentration of fruit. Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc. Needs plenty of bottle age. Best after 2012." (WS)

"The 2005 Sassicaia is another strong effort from Tenuta San Guido. Medium in body, it reveals an understated, delicate expression of smoke, herbs, tobacco and sweet dark fruit. The wine possesses compelling harmony and a gorgeous sense of inner perfume that flows from start to finish. This is an outstanding showing in a very challenging vintage. Sassicaia is mostly Cabernet Sauvignon, with a small amount of Cabernet Franc. Anticipated maturity: 2012-2025." (WA)

"A robust, meaty and fast-evolving cabernet blend whose rather closed, earthy and vegetal presence of confectionary, stewed and pruney fruit is backed by pencil shavings-like oak. Already quite leathery, it is rather attenuated, overcooked and lacking in genuine fruit sweetness, drying out towards a dusty, herbal finish. (Bolgheri, $250 retail, approx., 16.5/88, drink 2007-2010)" (JO)

Winery Notes:
The Tenuta San Guido is a 7,500-acre estate located in the province of Livorno on the western coastal outskirts of Tuscany near the village of Bolgheri. Brought into the holdings of Marchese Mario Incisa della Rocchetta through his marriage to Clarice della Gherardesca in 1940, it is the origin of a wine which has shaped a generation of wines which have in turn revolutionized Italy's image in the world of wine.

The legacy of Sassicaia begins in 1944, when Mario Incisa acquired a number of Cabernet Sauvignon and Franc vine cuttings and planted them on a sloping hillside of the San Guido estate, called Castiglioncello after the 11th-century castle at the vineyard's upper edge. This tiny, 3.75-acre vineyard stood alone until 1965, when a second Cabernet vineyard was planted with cuttings from the Castiglioncello parcel; the gravelly, 30-acre plot would give the wine its name: Sassicaia, "the place of many stones". This and a slightly more elevated microclimate of 20 acres, called Aianova, were planted in phases between 1965 and 1985, bringing plantings to the present extent of 90 acres in vines averaging 20 to 25 years of age.

Since the late 1960s, Sassicaia has represented a standard of production that is without compromise. The grapes are hand picked, destemmed, crushed and fermentation is set off by natural yeasts in stainless steel tanks. For the first week, pumping over of the must takes place three times daily; during the second week, this is reduced to once daily until the end of the 14-day fermentation period. The wine is pressed from the skins and undergoes full malolactic fermentation. Aging takes place in 225-litre Allier and Tronçais oak barriques, approximately 30 percent of which are new, for 18 to 22 months depending on vintage.

Sassicaia is a unique interpretation of the Cabernet variety, a wine of great breadth, complexity and longevity. The intense blackberry and cassis aromas, offset by notes of smoke and spice, are confirmed on a palate of lush concentration underscored by firm, ripe tannins carrying into a long, elegant finish.

This product was added to our catalog on Friday 20 November, 2009.

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