2011 Sassicaia, Tenuta San Guido, Bolgheri Sassicaia, Tuscany, Italy

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.

The most famous red wine grape in the world and one of the most widely planted.

It is adaptable to a wide range of soils, although it performs particularly well on well-drained, low-fertile soils. It has small, dusty, black-blue berries with thick skins that produce deeply coloured, full-bodied wines with notable tannins. Its spiritual home is the Médoc and Graves regions of Bordeaux where it thrives on the well-drained gravel-rich soils producing tannic wines with piercing blackcurrant fruits that develop complex cedarwood and cigar box nuances when fully mature.

The grape is widely planted in California where Cabernet Sauvignon based wines are distinguished by their rich mixture of cassis, mint, eucalyptus and vanilla oak. It is planted across Australia and with particular success in Coonawarra where it is suited to the famed Terra Rossa soil. In Italy barrique aged Cabernet Sauvignon is a key component in Super Tuscans such as Tignanello and Sassicaia, either on its own or as part of a blend with Sangiovese.