Tenuta San Guido

Tenuta San Guido is located in Bolgheri in Tuscany, in the Maremma area. The estate, about 2,500 hectares in size, stretches for around 13 kilometres from the hills to the sea. The vineyards are situated at altitudes from 60 to 400 metres and are predominantly oriented westwards to south-westwards.

The microclimate is shaped by the sea and the hills between Bibbona and Castagneto. These protect the vineyards from cold north-east winds, while summer sea breezes create a maritime climate. The soils are varied and include limestone, marl, flint, stones and, in part, clayey areas; Alberese and gabbro are also mentioned.

Mario Incisa della Rocchetta began experimenting with French grape varieties in the early 1940s and planted the first Cabernet Sauvignon vineyard on the slopes below Castiglioncello. Sassicaia remained a family wine until 1967. The first commercial vintage was 1968; the wine went on the market in 1971.

The estate’s main red grape varieties are Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Merlot. Sassicaia is produced from Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc. Guidalberto is a cuvée of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot and is classified as Toscana IGT. Le Difese, first published with the 2002 vintage, is a Toscana IGT cuvée of Sangiovese and Cabernet Sauvignon.

Within the Sassicaia micro-zone, the vineyards are located both in hillside positions at around 80 metres and at altitudes between 250 and 400 metres. The lower sites come from the Lower Middle Pleistocene, the higher sites from the Lower Cretaceous as well as the Eocene-Palaeocene.

Bolgheri Sassicaia DOC has been an independent appellation of origin since 2013 and previously was a sub-zone of Bolgheri DOC. The production specifications require at least 80 percent Cabernet Sauvignon; other permitted red grape varieties may make up up to 20 percent. The production area lies within the administrative territory of Castagneto Carducci in the province of Livorno.

The vines are trained using the low cordon method, with the cordon bent to about 40 centimetres. Tenuta San Guido works with manual harvesting, limited and exclusively organic manuring, as well as dry pruning and green pruning for yield control. Fungicides against powdery mildew and downy mildew are used only when needed; cultivation also includes hoeing, natural weed removal and replacing missing vines.

For the maturing of the wines, in the 1940s the estate introduced French barriques. The current winery for the production and refinement of Sassicaia was set up in the mid-1970s at the entrance to the cypress avenue.