Blog: Tenuta San Guido | Tuscany

Actually, it's a paradox! On the one hand, there's Sassicaia, Italy's most famous single varietal, one of the country's most modern wines, which helped the wave of Tuscan super table wines with French varietals and/or barrel aging take off in the first place; on the other hand, its origins go back further than those of many DOC wines. The story of Sassicaia began shortly after the last war, when Marchese Mario Incisa della Rochetta decided to move his family from Rome to the estate in Bolgheri. Like most Italian aristocrats of the time, he loved all things French, so he soon had grape seedlings imported from Bordeaux and planted them on his estate.

For the first few years, family members had to sell the rustic wine made from grapes grown on these vines. Then Piero Antinori, Incisa's nephew, and the famous French oenologist Emile Peynaud began to take an interest in the delicate plant. A second vineyard was planted and the first 3,000 bottles of the '68 vintage were released. From 1980, success took hold and Giacomo Tachis, Antinori's house oenologist, began to develop the wine. - Gerardo [TS07/22]