Travelling back from Bolgheri last year where I attended the launch of Ornellaia 2022 a German-based critic confided to me that if he could start his career all over again he would have relocated his family to London and built his business from here. It is the access to fine wine in Great Britain that is unprecedented, the importance of the market underscored for a second time this week with Tenuta San Guido’s worldwide launch of Sassicaia 2023 two days after the worldwide launch of the Domaine de la Romanée Conti 2023. Thankfully, coordinated or not, these were not on the same day as has been the case for many years – landing critics with an impossible choice.
“Tenuta San Guido launches in the UK first because of the people in this room,” Armit Wines MD Brett Fleming explained, “it’s a case of the press, brand equity and the agenda which is set by London’s traditional fine wine market.”
"These vintages happen now and again – it really is a classic.” Priscilla Incisa della Rocchetta on the Sassicaia 2023
Fleming along with Priscilla Incisa della Rocchetta, family member and Tenuta San Guido's head of external relations, presented the new wines Le Difese 2024, Guidalberto 2024 and Sassicaia 2023, choosing also to show the Guidalberto 2022 and Sassicaia 2022, 2019, and 2015 as contrast but also to promote Armit’s policy of holding back wines from each vintage to bolster wine lists in the on-trade.
Fleming did confess to not being able to do this with Le Difese as it always sells out, so well supported as it is by the restaurant trade – it is a ‘welcome wine’ that doesn’t need to be aged, after all.
I have no doubt Le Difese 2024 (£135 IB 6 x 75cl) will also sell out, this was the first wine out of the blocks and set the tone for the tasting. A fabulous wine this and just so contemporary – lifted, bright red fruit, subtle spice, firm acidity, pristine and pretty aromatics, see-through ruby, elegant, fresh, 13.5% abv – I cannot remember being bowled over by a Le Difese at one of these tastings. Even going back to it after tasting some old Sassicaia it still held its ground – there’s a quasi-Nebbiolo quality to it. Not as structured as the 2023 but maybe that’s partly why it is so approachable.
The wine was first introduced in 2002 and is a blend of 75% Sangiovese and 25% Cabernet Sauvignon (often containing de-classified fruit), aged in 2nd/ 3rd fill Guidalberto barrels, then steel, then bottle. 375,000 bottles are produced.
Priscilla explained that the difficulties of the wet ‘stop-start’ 2024 growing season particularly affected Merlot – “there was no way of ripening them like we want to” – which makes up 48% of the Guidalberto 2024 (£276 IB 6 x 75cl), the lion’s share being 52% Cabernet Sauvignon (although this ratio is usually reversed in years where the Merlot is not suffering so). The challenges were set by a very wet spring and then intermittent rain during the first two weeks of harvest. The Merlot crop was thinned to try and achieve full ripeness, which improved quality but reduced yields. Later ripening Cabernet Sauvignon was not affected in this way. Priscilla reported that in three to five years the estate would be fully independent in terms of Merlot, it currently sources about 10% of the Merlot it needs for the 400,000 bottles of Guidalberto it produces.
This 25th vintage of the wine is less structured than the 2023 (as was the case with Le Difese), it’s a deeper more opaque ruby, red and black fruit aromas, greater complexity – Fleming mentioned a coffee note which I didn’t detect although there was a pine note to me. Fresh on entry with crunchy red fruit, great tension, chiseled, and fabulously grainy tannins, bit of dry extract on the finish. Feels more restrained than warmer vintages.
The wine spends 13 months in 90% French oak (Hungarian the rest) 40% of which is new, the rest first and second fill. The very first vintage in 2000 did include Sangiovese but this stopped when the estate launched Le Difese.
For many years Tenuta San Guido has been investing in Guidalberto as a separate brand (its new standalone winery is now up to speed), emphasising that it is not a ‘second wine' to Sassicaia. “If anything Le Difese is the second wine to Sassicacia,” Fleming elaborated.
The Guidalberto 2022 (60% Merlot/ 40% Cabernet Sauvignon) tasted alongside the 2024 was a sturdier wine with attractive, creamy, mulberry notes. It came across as more structured, with fine grained tannins, and had greater length. Like 2024, the 2022 was a vintage considered warm but also interrupted by rain.
We then moved to the main course, the Sassicaia 2023 (£1250 IB 6 x 75cl) which had been preceded by perfect scores in some quarters. “It was a classic season like 2021,” explained Priscilla, who said that, since the unpopular style of the 1990s, the estate was making Sassicaia in a more elegant style, “we had the challenge of rain and, with that, mildew attack, but then we had a nice long growing season, followed by a nice-paced harvest – these vintages happen now and again – so it really is a classic.” The rain earlier on in the season helped mitigate July’s high temperatures as did ventilation and canopy protection measures. Rain from the west in August helped slow technical ripening to the benefit of phenolic development.
In a word Sassicaia 2023 is stunning. Dark ruby red; the aromas are seductive and hugely complex (Monica Lerner lists 12 elements in her oft-quoted review). Certainly you can detect many layers with dark fruit, flower petals, fresh Mediterranean herbs and spices taking turns to shine. The wine starts fresh, elegant, floral and then has darker more savoury notes as the wine spends time in the glass. In the mouth it is fresh, elegant, incredibly smooth and fluid, perfect ripeness with the underlying structure and pixilated tannins starting to take hold, almost imperceptibly, the finish is long and chalky. I can’t remember the last vintage that was so immediately approachable with everything in perfect balance and harmony. Amazing.
The blend is 87% Cabernet Sauvignon 13% Cabernet Franc, ageing took place for 24 months in barriques (40% new) before another 3-6 months in bottle. The estate has produced 280,000 bottles.
We tasted alongside the 2023 the Sassicaia 2022 which was also fresh, but a bit darker and more savoury on the nose, the tannins were more chalky but well integrated, the wine was more tightly sprung than the 2023, had more bitter orange peel and dry extract in the core. Still very drinkable! The Sassicaia 2019 had more Cabernet Franc than the other vintages tasted with the grape being relied upon more throughout Bolgheri as a means to achieving freshness and linearity in the wine. Bit of bricking on the edges, the nose was vibrant with red fruit and sun-dried tomato, the palate was velvety, fresh, lovely texture, micro-fine tannins and terrific length. The Sassicaia 2015 had even more depth to the fruit, felt a lot older than four years on from the 2019, the palate strikingly fresh – more so than the nose might suggest.
Fleming talked about the influence CEO and head of winemaking, Carlo Paoli has had since he joined the estate in 2009 (getting really hands on in 2011/2) and how Tenuta San Guido has, under his tenure experienced a run of great vintages. “Carlo has a real terroir focus, he’s not trying to make the wines he thinks people want – but these are in a more elegant, linear style with lightness. He is a man of great authority and humility and the quality has radically improved since he has been there.”
Priscilla added that Carlo “Has spent a lot of work on viticulture, handling the environment, how he treats the land and what he does in the winery. He is meticulous, precise and feels a big responsibility.”
So, thanks to Priscilla and Brett for a fabulous tasting. Next year they’re talking of perhaps doing this event in Bolgheri for which I know at least one German wine critic who would be immensely happy! Grazie.
Sassicaia 2023 and the other wines from Tenuta San Guido are imported and sold in the UK through Armit Wines, which is a commercial partner of The Buyer. To discover more about them click here.
