Tenuta San Guido Sassicaia 2020.

Sassicaia means “the place of many stones,” and refers to the region’s gravel soil. All the vineyards located in different altitudes and exposures benefit from extensive sun and maritime breezes. Grapes are handpicked, destemmed and crushed before fermenting with natural yeasts in temperature-controlled stainless steel tanks. The wine is aged in French oak barriques, then refined in bottle before release. Sassicaia’s success prompted the Italian government to grant the wine its own appellation, Bolgheri Sassicaia DOC, beginning with the 1994 vintage.

TYPE OF SOILS: the plots of land that suitable for the production of this wine are included in the territorial delimitation of the DOC SASSICAIA and entirely comprised within the boundaries of Tenuta San Guido. They show different and composite morphological characteristics, with the presence of limestone areas rich in marl, as well as stones and pebbles (from which the wine takes its name) and partially clay. The vineyards are located at an average altitude between 100 and 400 meters above sea level, with exposure to the West / South-West.

CLIMATIC TREND AND CHARACTERISTICS OF THE VINTAGE: positive vintage, generally warm in the last phases of the growing season. The autumn was humid with abundant rains that occurred from mid-October and lasted until the end of December. Temperatures were quite mild and, at times, even above the seasonal average. Intense cold has arrived in February with temperatures that have dropped approaching 0°C. March began with strong sea winds and rains but with mild temperatures which contributed to the enlargement of the buds, especially of the early varieties such as Merlot. At the end of March, a perturbation from Russia brought about a marked drop in temperatures with north winds and even some freezing at night. This weather condition did not cause damage to the Cabernet Sauvignon vines as it is a late grape variety, while in some Cabernet Franc plants there was some gem selection, causing the vegetative development on the secondary buds. The result was a lower production per plant but a better quality and concentration of the fruit. April and May were mild with alternating sunny days and average seasonal temperatures with rainy days and cooler air. A somewhat unusual spring which did not cause damage to the vines but led them to more vegetation and production during the spring. Agronomists had to pay greater attention and planned several interventions by the agricultural workforce to reduce the exceeding production of the plants After mid-June, the climate recovered, bringing sunny and warm days that continued until harvest time, except for some interruptions with precipitations in July and in August, to the benefit of the plants. The ripening of the grapes took place about 7-8 days earlier than normal and the beautiful sunny days prompted the grapes to reach full ripeness quickly. For this reason, the harvesting operations were speeded up, to avoid over-ripening. The grapes, although with a higher sugar content, arrived in the cellar healthy and of excellent quality, with adequate phenolic ripeness. Acidity and PH of the musts were well balanced and, despite the need not to prolong the macerations too long to facilitate the arrival of the grapes in in the cellar, the extraction was optimal, giving an important structure to the musts (average extract around at 32 mg/l) as well as great freshness given by a good balance in terms of acidity.

The extraction of anthocyanins was also excellent, resulting in a perfect colouring of the musts and aromatic complexity. The sugar levels averaged 230-240 g/l for the Cabernet Sauvignon and 240/250g/l for the Cabernet Franc and perfect analytical values. The 2020 is a beautiful vintage of Sassicaia that presents itself at a young age with a marked acidity and freshness and beautiful complexity both on the nose and in the mouth. It well identifies the style of elegance typical of Sassicaia in which the structure never dominates the elegance and flavour of the wine. The tannins, although noble and silky, require a longer period of maturation in glass compared to other previous years, but already at a young age the wine presents itself with a beautiful freshness and very harmonious.

HARVEST PERIOD: the manual harvest began in the first week of September with the grapes from the younger vineyards starting from the Cabernet Franc and then continued with the Cabernet Sauvignon from the vineyards located at lower altitudes, ending in the last week of September with those on the hills located over 300 meters above sea level (Vigna di Castiglioncello and Vigna del Quercione).

VINIFICATION NOTES: selection of the grapes through a sorting table, to eliminate impurities and any presence of imperfections. Soft pressing and delicate destemming of the grapes, maintaining the integrity of the berries and avoiding excessive transfer of tannins. The alcoholic fermentation (completely spontaneous and without the addition of external yeasts) was concluded by the end of October and carried out regularly and at controlled temperatures not exceeding 27-28 °C. Frequent delestages and pumping over allowed for excellent aromatic extraction and freshness in terms of acidity of the musts. The malolactic fermentations took place in steel, at the end of November. In the first week of December, after frequent decanting to clean the musts, the wine was placed in oak barriques.

AGING: at the end of the malolactic fermentation, the wine was placed in barriques using 45% new wood, 45% first passage and 10% second passage. We used fine-grained, medium-toasted French oak barriques (Troncais, Allier and Jupilles in particular) in order not to exceed the transfer of tannins. Sassicaia 2020, after more than 25 months of aging in wood, was decanted into steel tanks and further selected before final blending and then bottling. Subsequent refinement in the bottle before release on the market.