Tasting Notes
This is the "entry level" wine from San Guido, the famed producers of Sassicaia. It's an IGT wine, which means it doesn't follow the rules of the Tuscan appelation. La Difese is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Sangiovese with good generosity of fruit and weight, which is followed by a persistent and full tannin structure that aligns itself well with red meat dishes. It's a serious wine built to be enjoyed young. - Chris L
Tenuta San Guido is named after the Saint Guido della Gherardesca who lived during the XI century. It is located on the Tyrrhenian coast, between Leghorn and Grosseto, in Maremma an area made famous by Italian Nobel prize winner Giosuè Carducci, and it stretches for 13 km from the sea to the hills.
Three are its defining characteristics: the Sassicaia wine, the Razza Dormello-Olgiata thoroughbred studfarm and the Bird Sanctuary Padule di Bolgheri. They divide the estate between the Padule on the coast, the horse's training grounds on the plain, and the vineyards planted up to 350 meters on the hills. The latter have been given their own DOC, the DOC Bolgheri Sassicaia, the first, and so far only case in Italy of a DOC contained in one estate.
The wedding of Mario Incisa della Rocchetta and Clarice della Gherardesca on October 18th 1930 started it all.
They shared a love for thoroughbred horses that made them form a partnership with horse breeder and trainer Federico Tesio. Mario Incisa's love of good wine made him plant Cabernet vines in 1942 for what was to become Sassicaia. Seventeen years later the Bolgheri Bird Sanctuary becomes Italy's first private nature preserve.
Tenuta San Guido covers 2,500 hectares of prime agricultural land near Bolgheri, on the Tuscan Coast. The estate counts 97 hectares of vines today. The first two hectares were planted in 1942, and following a few years of experimentation, the vineyard holdings grew substantially during the 1950s and 1960s to the current size.
The first commercial vintage of Sassicaia is 1968. This historic Italian wine will celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2021, when the 2018 vintage is released. Sassicaia was not produced in 1969 or 1973.
The name Sassicaia comes from the stones, or “sassi" in Italian, found in the historic vineyard. Today, the extended Sassicaia vineyards see soils with alluvial deposits, a mix of silt, clay, sand, gravel and a high concentration of iron and manganese. These give distinctly mineral traits to the wine that become more evident as it evolves. - Winery Note
| Product Type | Wine Red Other Varietals & Blends |
| Volume | 750ml |
| Country | Italy |
| Region | Tuscany |
| Winemaking Practices | Conventional |
| Vineyard Practices | Conventional |