2010 Sassicaia, Tenuta San Guido, Bolgheri Sassicaia, Tuscany, Italy

2010 Sassicaia, Tenuta San Guido, Bolgheri Sassicaia, Tuscany, Italy

Product: 20108008596
Prices start from £273.00 per bottle (75cl). Buying options
2010 Sassicaia, Tenuta San Guido, Bolgheri Sassicaia, Tuscany, Italy

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Description

The 2010 vintage was another cool year, with a wet start then a hot and dry July before more rainfall in August. Picking didn't finish until 31 October. Unlike 2014, many wines in this vintage have incredible longevity, and that's the case with Sassicaia. It still displays a youthful nose of crunchy fruits and spice, with more of a red fruit character than the 2014. 

Somewhat austere and monolithic, it combines big acidity with structural yet streamlined tannins; its core of blackcurrant fruit takes a back seat. Herbal, dusty and earthy, it demands more time to reach its full potential. Poured from magnum.

Drink 2023 - 2050

James Button, Decanter.com (February 2023)

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Critics reviews

Antonio Galloni, Vinous96/100

The 2010 Sassicaia is just beginning to show the first signs of aromatic development. Sweet tobacco, mint, pine, dried cherries and liquorice open up in the glass, but only with great reluctance. The 2010 remains a wine of striking precision and nuance, but it also has an element of classical austerity that is especially apparent today. Readers should be in no rush to drink the 2010.

Tenuta San Guido fans will find much to admire in these new releases. The entry-level Le Difese and mid-tier Guidalberto are both strong (something that is not always the case), while the 2012 Sassicaia looks like it will drink well early relative to its historical track record. Sassicaia remains the most classic of the big Tuscan wines, with an emphasis on aromatic freshness and acidity that is the result of picking earlier than is common in most neighbouring properties. I was quite impressed with the wines I tasted on my most recent visit a few months ago.

Drink 2020 - 2040

Antonio Galloni, Vinous.com (October 2015)

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Jane Anson96/100

85% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Cabernet Franc.

Silky and rich in colour, these wines speak of careful extraction, nothing impulsive or overdone. At six years it is just tipping over from its tight expression of youth to more open aromatics. This has a hauntingly exotic but restrained feel, with beautiful notes of leather, woodsmoke, and undergrowth, still full of heady autumnal fruit. I am crunching through October leaves, with the promise of spring and rising sage and rosemary. The lightness that comes in on the finish is striking, and yet with a persistency that hints at hidden power. Still many years ahead of it.

Jane Anson, Decanter.com

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Wine Advocate96/100

The 2010 Sassicaia Bolgheri Sassicaia brings back some of the brambly rosemary and wild Mediterranean brush that was missing in 2009. This will greatly appeal to enthusiasts of Sassicaia’s trademark elegance. The wine shows extreme purity that brings its many beautiful aromas into startling focus and clarity. Lingering tones of black fruit and Oriental spice add subtle shades at the back. The wine mostly certainly shows its pedigree in the exciting and beautifully balance manner it evolves in the glass: It tells a new story each time you return to observe the bouquet. This is the harbinger of cellar longevity.

Drink 2018 - 2040

Monica Larner, Wine Advocate (August 2013)

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Jancis Robinson MW18/20

85% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Cabernet Franc.

Dark ruby. Very subtle but notably ripe nose. Understated. Dry finish and is slightly austere but very true to its origins. Tuscan claret with layers of mineral undertow! Something quite salty.

Drink 2022 - 2038

Jancis Robinson MW, JancisRobinson.com (October 2022)

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James Suckling94/100

The 2010 Sassicaia was just released and it's an outstanding bottle. I think that people are going to love this newest Sass. The red is very aromatic with currant, dried berry, cocoa bean, and hints of wood. It's full-bodied, with intense yet very polished tannins and a long finish. It's very refined and beautiful with a tangy finish. The Cabernet Franc comes through here at the finish. Lively. 

Hard not to drink now

James Suckling, JamesSuckling.com (June 2013)

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Decanter98/100

The 2010 vintage was another cool year, with a wet start then a hot and dry July before more rainfall in August. Picking didn't finish until 31 October. Unlike 2014, many wines in this vintage have incredible longevity, and that's the case with Sassicaia. It still displays a youthful nose of crunchy fruits and spice, with more of a red fruit character than the 2014. 

Somewhat austere and monolithic, it combines big acidity with structural yet streamlined tannins; its core of blackcurrant fruit takes a back seat. Herbal, dusty and earthy, it demands more time to reach its full potential. Poured from magnum.

Drink 2023 - 2050

James Button, Decanter.com (February 2023)

Read more

About this WINE

Tenuta San Guido

Tenuta San Guido

Tenuta San Guido's journey to becoming one of the world's most sought-after fine wines is largely owed to the vision and dedication of Mario Incisa della Rocchetta. The estate's origins trace back to his wife's family, who had owned land in Bolgheri since 1800. The name "Sassicaia," meaning "place of many stones," reflects the gravelly soil reminiscent of the Médoc region in France.

Mario Incisa della Rocchetta planted Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot vines on this land and enlisted the expertise of Piero Antinori's winemaker, Giacomo Tachis. Tachis played a pivotal role in shaping Tenuta San Guido's winemaking philosophy and techniques.

In 1968, Tenuta San Guido released its first vintage, which garnered universal acclaim. Over time, it has become recognised as one of the world's finest Cabernet Sauvignon wines. Notably, Tenuta San Guido made history by being the first single wine to be granted its own Denominazione di Origine Controllata (DOC) status.

The wines of Tenuta San Guido are celebrated for their intense notes of cassis, coupled with a cedary elegance, and are renowned for their extraordinary power and length. This combination of factors has solidified Tenuta San Guido's position as a pinnacle of quality and prestige in the world of fine wine.

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Bolgheri

Bolgheri

Bolgheri is a new DOC in the coastal Maremma region which first rose to prominence during the 1970s with the emergence of the so-called Super Tuscan wines like Ornellaia and Sassicaia. These new ventures had rocked the DOC establishment by using high proportions of Cabernet Sauvignon, opting out of the DOC system and relabeling their wines as simply Vino da Tavola (table wine). 

Having won universal acclaim and exchanging hands for unprecedented prices (higher even than Tuscany's finest examples), the authorities relented and awarded Bolgheri its own DOC. The actions of the Super Tuscans inspired a generation in Italy, even if some of the wines here have lost a little of their lustre since.

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Cabernet Sauvignon Blend

Cabernet Sauvignon Blend

Cabernet Sauvignon lends itself particularly well in blends with Merlot. This is actually the archetypal Bordeaux blend, though in different proportions in the sub-regions and sometimes topped up with Cabernet Franc, Malbec, and Petit Verdot.

In the Médoc and Graves the percentage of Cabernet Sauvignon in the blend can range from 95% (Mouton-Rothschild) to as low as 40%. It is particularly suited to the dry, warm, free- draining, gravel-rich soils and is responsible for the redolent cassis characteristics as well as the depth of colour, tannic structure and pronounced acidity of Médoc wines. However 100% Cabernet Sauvignon wines can be slightly hollow-tasting in the middle palate and Merlot with its generous, fleshy fruit flavours acts as a perfect foil by filling in this cavity.

In St-Emilion and Pomerol, the blends are Merlot dominated as Cabernet Sauvignon can struggle to ripen there - when it is included, it adds structure and body to the wine. Sassicaia is the most famous Bordeaux blend in Italy and has spawned many imitations, whereby the blend is now firmly established in the New World and particularly in California and  Australia.

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