2020 Guidalberto, Tenuta San Guido, Tuscany, Italy
Critics reviews
The 2020 Guidalberto is taut and tight with plenty of tart cherries and wild berries. The wine offers great freshness and tension with bay leaf, spice, wild cherry and pressed lavender buds. There is a hint of black olive too. The blend is equal parts Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot.
Drink 2022 - 2030
Monica Larner, Wine Advocate (July 2022)
The 2020 Guidalberto is a gorgeous, classy wine. Less opulent than it can be, the 2020 impresses with its energy and drive. Sweet red cherry, plum, mint, rose petal, cedar and pipe tobacco all take shape in this super-attractive, mid-weight offering from Tenuta San Guido. There's a bit more Merlot in the 2020, but Guidalberto is increasingly made from lots that don't make it into Sassicaia, which explains the style of recent vintages. This is a terrific showing, especially considering the recent bottling. It's a fine relative value in Bolgheri's high-rent district.
Drink 2024 - 2032
Antonio Galloni, vinous.com (February 2022)
Nice freshness on the palate with plums and berries and citrusy acidity. It’s medium-bodied with fine tannins and a powdery texture. Hints of mushrooms. You can enjoy this young, but it will age nicely, too.
Drink or hold
James Suckling, jamessuckling.com (April 2022)
Usually, a 60/40 split, in 2020 Guidalberto (Sassicaia’s little brother) is a 50/50 blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Sangiovese. Spiced plums, dark fruits and cedar aromas lead to a palate of intensity, tightness and concentration, showing tangy and bright plum, raspberry, blackcurrant and pomegranate flavours with fine-grained tannins. Ages well.
Drink 2023 - 2035
James Button, Decanter.com (September 2022)
About this WINE
Sassicaia
Sassicaia is today one of the most sought-after fine wines in the world. This is largely because of the vision, energy and drive of proprietor Mario Incisa della Rocchetta.
The Sassicaia estate at Bolgheri came from Mario Incisa della Rocchetta's wife's family who had owned land there since 1800 - the name Sassicaia means,place of many stones, and the gravelly soil has been compared to those found in the Médoc. He planted Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot and engaged the services of Piero Antinori`s winemaker, Giacomo Tachis.
Sassicaia's first vintage was released to universal acclaim in 1968. Sassicaia is now widely accepted as one of the world`s greatest Cabernet Sauvignon wines and made history recently, being the first single wine to be granted its own DOC. The wines of Sassicaia combine intense notes of cassis and cedary elegance, with extraordinary power and length.
Cab.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
The nose has intense aromas of cherries and blackcurrants with attractive notes that take on more cinnamon, vanilla and coffee flavours. The palate is vibrant and smooth, offering plentiful dark berries with notes of violets. The Merlot gives the wine freshness and a fruity pure character. Fine ripe tannins and persistence, a lovely round and warm mouthfeel lead into a beautiful finish. Perfectly balanced.
Drink 2023 – 2030
Filippo Zara, Account Manager, Berry Bros. & Rudd (February 2022)
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