2009 Sassicaia, Tenuta San Guido, Bolgheri Sassicaia, Tuscany, Italy
Critics reviews
The 2009 Sassicaia is unusually big, rich and opulent. Layers of fruit saturate the palate as the 2009 explodes from the glass with a heady mélange of dark berries, plums, menthol, liquorice and new leather. This is an especially racy Sassicaia. Readers who enjoy the classicism of Sassicaia are likely to find the 2009 too rich, especially at this early stage. The wine needs at least a few years in bottle to drop some of its baby fat. Despite its huge fruit, the 2009 is also pretty closed down and not anywhere close to being ready to show off its pedigree. Sassicaia is arguably Italy's most famous wine, so it's always great when it lives up to its reputation.
Drink 2019 - 2039
Antonio Galloni, Vinous.com (June 2012)
80% Cabernet Sauvignon and 20% Cabernet Franc.
Bright, full ruby. Pure, perfumed aromas of blackberry, cassis, lead pencil, violet and minerals, complicated by a super ripe note of crushed raspberry. Extremely primary and pure, offering sharply defined cassis, violet and mineral flavours of great class. The perfectly integrated acidity and vibrant floral character from the cabernet franc give the middle palate a terrific lift. Though very ripe in its flavour profile, this wine conveys a rare lightness of touch typical of Sassicaia but rare for this vintage on the Tuscan Coast. Finishes with noble tannins and outstanding palate-staining length.
For all its creamy power and charm, I really like this wine's balance and the subtle delivery of its complex flavours. I have tasted every vintage of Sassicaia on countless occasions, and other than the legendary 1985, I have no doubt that this is one of the two or three best Sassicaias at a similar stage of development. Though 2009 won't surpass the once-in-a-lifetime 1985, it is starting its life in a bottle with almost the same perfectly balanced, opulent, creamy texture and depth of that incredible wine, which I remember tasting in Rome and Tuscany immediately upon release.
In fact, that wine was so good that even though I was still a university student (and thus on a student budget), it was the first time in my life I ever bought a full case. If I were a university student today, I'd do the same with the 2009, even though the price of Sassicaia is far higher today. There's profound potential here, but younger wine writers and consumers who weren't seriously involved in tasting back in the '80s may well be surprised by this wine's voluptuous, atypically opulent texture and, thus, miss its sheer greatness.
Ian D'Agata, Vinous.com (September 2012)
Magnum. 85% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Cabernet Franc.
Deep brick-garnet. Cigar box and dried thyme scents lift from the glass, with dried cassis too. Touches of black tea and five-spice oak give subtle complexity. Just a touch of volatility. Relatively full-bodied, with a rich and velvety texture. Notably, grainier, firmer tannins than the 2016 – a bigger and more robust wine – without quite the elegance of the 2016. Quite a different character.
Drink 2016 - 2026
Tim Jackson MW, JancisRobinson.com (March 2019)
The 2009 Bolgheri Sassicaia is the richest and darkest edition in recent memory. This super-charged Sassicaia boasts enormous power and concentration thanks to its impressive phenolic foundation. Black currant and blackberry confit are followed by spice, leather, tar, road paving and black truffle. It shows preliminary tertiary signs of liquorice and crushed minerals. The wine wraps thickly over the palate, delivering tight textural firmness and integrated structure. You taste the fruit's sweetness and the oak tannins' depth. No matter how you approach it, this wine scores very high on the intensity meter.
For the record, Tenuta San Guido General Manager Carlo Paoli expressed concern about the integrity of his sample, but I remained extremely pleased by the gorgeous wine before me.
Drink 2018 - 2040
Monica Larner, Wine Advocate (April 2017)
An extremely rich and ripe wine with currant, cherry and balsamic aromas. Hints of leather. Follows through on the finish. Full body, round and velvety tannins that are reserved and beautiful. Sweet and sour. Savoury, too.
Drink or hold. This has a long life ahead of it.
James Suckling, JamesSuckling.com (October 2017)
About this WINE
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.
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.
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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Description
Magnum. 85% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Cabernet Franc.
Deep brick-garnet. Cigar box and dried thyme scents lift from the glass, with dried cassis too. Touches of black tea and five-spice oak give subtle complexity. Just a touch of volatility. Relatively full-bodied, with a rich and velvety texture. Notably, grainier, firmer tannins than the 2016 – a bigger and more robust wine – without quite the elegance of the 2016. Quite a different character.
Drink 2016 - 2026
Tim Jackson MW, JancisRobinson.com (March 2019)
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