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2014 SASSICAIA Bolgheri Tenuta San Guido Incisa della Rocchetta, Lea & Sandeman

SASSICAIA

2014 Bolgheri Tenuta San Guido Incisa della Rocchetta

Grapes Cab Franc, Cab Sauv
Colour Red
Origin Italy, Tuscany
District Bolgheri
Sub-district Bolgheri
ABV 14%

Medium-deep colour. A very immediate and lovely nose of dark fruit with a sheen of oak. Palate is silky, at once delicate and intense, a fresh acidity gives a lively brightness, and behind there are classic Cabernet, spice, cigar-box and cedar notes. The character is firm rather than voluptuous, a wine with quite an old-school claret feel about it - food wine. There's lots here to bring more complexity with age. Drinking range: 2020 - 2032 L&S (Feb 2017)


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The 2014 Sassicaia is polished and expressive for the year. But it is also quite a bit darker and more concentrated than when it was a young wine. That search for a level of depth in aging that the vintage did not provide on its own also concentrated the tannins, which are a bit out of balance for the structure of the wine. It will be interesting to see if the 2014 gains aromatic expressiveness and layers. Today the wine is at once light in body and also tannic. Drinking range: 2019 - 2029 Rating: 90 Antonio Galloni, www.vinous.com (Apr 2018)

Tasted from barrel, the 2014 Bolgheri Sassicaia is shaping up very nicely since I tasted it last year. In fact, it has made reassuring gains in terms of color density, aromatic definition and specifically textural richness. This wine will be released in 2017, but is scheduled to be bottled in November of this year (instead of January 2017) in order to allow it more time to flesh out and integrate in glass. The bouquet shows slightly rustic tones of tilled earth and spice that come on the heels of blackberry and dried cherry. The 2014 vintage is characterized by a late growing cycle. The last day of harvest was October 31. Despite the vintage challenges, primary fermentation and malolactic fermentation were executed without a hitch. Drinking range: 2019 - 2035 Rating: 92-94 Monica Larner, The Wine Advocate (www.robertparker.com) (May 2017)

For those relatively new to wine or indeed Italian wine in general, to say Sassicaia is an icon is an understatement. What's great about this vintage is its suppleness which means it has very rounded fruit and such ease of drinkability, but before that comes the hauntingly beautiful aroma with cherry and dried flower charm. It bursts with fruit on the palate, fresh and ripe with succulent black cherry fruit but an undeniable nod towards thyme and rosemary, then with this excellent long finish. Sassicaia really does seem to be dodgy-vintage proof (this was a cool and wet year in Tuscany, not that you'd especially know it). Rating: 94 The Wine Gang - www.thewinegang.com (May 2017)

Tenuta San Guido Incisa della Rocchetta

Sassicaia is the only single estate wine in Italy with its own appellation - Bolgheri Sassicaia. It was the original "Super Tuscan" and is a blend of 85% Cabernet Sauvignon and 15% Cabernet Franc, aged for 24 months in French barriques, of which these days ony 20% are new. Mario Incisa della Rochetta, part of a grand old Italian family who's roots extend back to the Renaissance and beyond, and cousin of the Antinoris, married Clarice della Gherardesca in 1930 and with his wife came some land in Bolgheri. The story of Sassicaia was just beginning. Mario dreamed of making a wine like the grand vins of Bordeaux and, noticing a similarity between his Bolgheri vineyards and those of the Graves, decided to plant some Cabernet Sauvignon. In the early years the wine was just for consumption on the estate and was not always well appreciated. Fortunately, a few cases were put away to age with each vintage and, once time had worked its magic, it became clear that these were wines that only truly showed their majesty with a few years in bottle. The first vintage released for commercial sale was the 1968 and it transformed Tuscan wine and has given rise to a host of imitators and rivals. Sassicaia is now revered, not only as one of the best wines in Italy, but as one of the best wines in the world.

This wine isn't currently part of a mixed case, but you can always browse our full selection of mixed cases here.
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