In a really important year to remember, Tenuta San Guido is ready to surprise the world with the most elegant wine it has ever produced: Sassicaia 2018.
It is the 50th birthday of the only wine produced at Bolgheri-Sassicaia, a denomination completely owned by the Incisa della Rochetta family, which is bringing an important announcement to the decisive change in style which has been going on for a few years.
The completely abandoned opulence leaves space for the precision of execution and elegance of the most famous Italian-International blend in the world which plays with very close percentages of 85% Cabernet Sauvignon and 15% Cabernet Franc.
Sassicaia 2018 is the confirmation that even after 50 years the winery at Livorno is bottling a form a poetry few can resist.
It is incredible how precise this wine is on the nose, showing off immediately, blunt and with no frills attached.
A pure sensory attack which leaves you dumbfounded from the first impact with notes which are unusual and decisively captivating. It plays with a slight reduction which doesn’t dominate the first scene but emerges over time in the glass.
A true and authentic Tuscan Mediterranean vintage, and particularly that of Bolgheri-Sassicaia, gives a wine that is deep both in colour and on the nose yet delicate and persuasive on the palate.
The intertwining of these different sensations gives feeling and places a lot of attention on a vintage which is extremely different from what we have been used to in the last few years.
The vintage was characterised by a lot of rain in the winter and then the arrival of North-Easterly winds over the winter which brought temperatures to under minus 2 to minus 5° C for about a week.
Spring was rainy with medium temperatures for the time of year and then a hot summer. Only July allowed a healthy maturation of the grapes after good flowering and correct fruit formation.
There was a lot of rain between the 14th and 15th of August – a period remembered for its mugginess and scorching heat – but after that the temperatures didn’t reach worrying levels.
Optimum thermal movements between day and night, a slightly lower amount of grapes than had been anticipated (15% less than 2016) and stable weather during the first few days of September allowed the harvest to be postponed by 7-8 days, something that hadn’t happened for a long time.
After spontaneous fermentation in steel tanks and aging in both new and old barrels (around 2/3 new and 1/3 used) produced one of the finest wines I have ever tasted in my life.
Sassicaia 2018 is beautiful, delicately intense, and incredibly modern, it moves with an elegance that I had never had the pleasure of meeting in my whole career as a wine critic.
It is an exciting wine that will continue to surprise over the years with its resistance and continued evolution.
Please see the tasting notes below for the Tenuta San Guido Bolgheri-Sassicaia 2018:
Estremamente accattivante nel profilo sensoriale profondo e leggermente austero Sassicaia 2018 mostra complessità e tensione nel quadro aromatico mediterraneo figlio della splendida annata a Bolgheri-Sassicaia. I sentori di tiglio si fondono a note di sambuco e coriandolo impostando la scena principale solida e performante. Con il passare dei secondi nel calice il vino evolve descrivendo una bellezza di pochi purosangue nella vivacità elegante e leggermente snob di mallo di noce, foglie di tè verdi e noci sgusciate. La cornice intrigante che costituisce l’anima terziaria di un vino stratificato alterna l’opalescenza della sana riduzione perfettamente controllata a erbe mediterranee che ricordano la maggiorana, l’origano ed il prezzemolo. Al palato il vino è delicato e suadente e mostra un’estrazione perfetta dei componenti polifenolici. I tannini sono setosi ed accompagnano, fusi alla naturale acidità del vino, il sorso in progressione che senza timidezza ed incertezze chiude centrato e brillante. È preciso e succoso nella grazia di un giovane blend bordolese costituito da 85% Cabernet Sauvignon e 15% Cabernet Franc. Straordinario sin da subito Sassicaia 2018 sarà perfetto dal 2024 in poi.
