Tenuta San Guido

Tenuta San Guido is situated in the Maremma (Tuscany) near the Tyrrhenian Sea in Italy. The winery is world famous for their flagship wine “Sassicaia”.

Sassicaia means “stony ground” in the Tuscan dialect. The production of Sassicaia began already in 1948, and until the mid-1960’s it was only consumed at the estate. All the grapes used for this wine came from a vineyard near Castiglioncello.

In 1965, the late Marchèse Mario Incisa della Rochetta planted two new vineyards with Cabernet Sauvigon and cabernet franc nearby the original vineyard. This was the beginning of the “new” Sassicaia and the first release in 1968 was already well received. However, the wine became world famous in 1978 when a blind tasting competition hold by Decanter magazine was hosted and a bottle of Sassicaia won over many famous cabernet sauvignon producers from all over the world.

Since Sassicaia was the first Italian wine to experiment with Bordeaux style wine making it can be considered as the first ‘Super Tuscan’. Because of that the wine was classified only as a Vino da Tavola, but since 2013, it became the only wine from any single estate in Italy which received its own DOC (Bolgheri Sassicaia).

Sassicaia’s vinification takes place in temperature controlled, stainless-steel vats for about two weeks. The wine is then aged in 25% new oak barrels from France for 24 months. The production of Sassicaia is about 180.000 bottles per year. There is also a second wine produced “Guidalberto” (cabernet sauvignon & merlot), which was launched in 2000 and recently “La Diffese” was introduced. “La Diffese” has some Sangiovese in the blend and is partly aged in American oak. Furthermore, the estate also produces, in association with Jacopo Poli a Grappa “Da Vinacce Di Sassicaia.

The winery has many famous fans. For example, Jay-Z and Beyonce visited the winery and it is said that they always want to have two bottles in their dressing room. Also David and Victoria Beckham where celebrated their wedding anniversary with a case of Sassicaia and Rihanna was spotted leaving a restaurant with a bottle of Sassicaia in her hand.

The great vintages for Sassicaia are: 1985 (considered a legend!), 1988, 1990, 1997, 1998, 2001, and generally, all the wines from vintage 2006 on.