Tenuta dell'Ornellaia

Italy Tuscany Bolgheri

The Tenuta San Guido is a 7,500-acre estate located in the province of Livorno on the western coastal outskirts of Tuscany near the village of Bolgheri.

Brought into the holdings of Marchese Mario Incisa Della Rocchetta through his marriage to Clarice Della Gherardesca in 1940, it is the origin of a wine which has shaped a generation of wines which have in turn revolutionized Italy's image in the world of wine.

The legacy of Sassicaia begins in 1944, when Mario Incisa aquired a number of Cabernet Sauvignon and Franc vine cuttings and planted them on a sloping hillside of the San Guido estate, called Castiglioncello after the 11th-centruy castle at the Vineyard's upper edge.

This tiny, 3.75 acre vinyard stood alone until 1965, when a second cabernet vineyard was planted with cuttings from the Castiglioncello parcel; the gravelly, 30 acre plot would give the wine its name: Sassicaia, “the place of many stones”. This and a slightly more elevated microclimate of 20 acres, called Aianova, were planted in phases between 1965 and 1985, bringing plantings to the present extent of 90 acres in vines averaging 20 to 25 years of age.

Since the late 1960's, Sassicaia has represented a standard of production that is without compromise. The grapes are handpicked, destemmed, crushed and fermentation is set off by natural yeasts in Stainless Steel tanks. For the first week pumping over of the must takes place three times daily; during the second week, this is reduced to once daily until the end of the 14 day fermentation period. The wine is pressed from the skins and undergoes full malolactic fermentation. Aging takes place in 225 Litre Allier and Troncais oak Barriques, approximately 30 percent of which are new, for 18 to 22 months depending on vintage.

Sassicaia is a unique interpretation of the cabernet variety, a wine of great breadth, complexity and longevity.

The intense blackberry and cassis armoas, offest by notes of smoke and spice, are confirmed on a palate of lush conentration underscored by firm, ripe tannins carrying into a long, elegant finish. Sassicaia is really ‘the icon wine’, one of the most wanted wine all over the world.

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