Tenuta San Guido - Guidalberto 2020
Tenuta San Guido is much better known by the name of its most famous wine: Sassicaia . The estate is located in the Tuscany region of Maremma , Italy , and has its own single-estate DOC appellation (Bolgheri Sassicaia) applied to its flagship wine. Sassicaia , one of the original Super Tuscan wines, is made from Cabernet Sauvignon with a small amount of Cabernet Franc. The grapes that go into making Sassicaia are picked just before they reach full maturity, which contributes to finesse and flavor as well as lower alcohol levels. After two weeks of fermentation in stainless steel vats, the wine is aged for around 24 months in French oak barrels, around 20% of which are new.
Tenuta San Guido also makes Guidalberto and Le Difese using declassified fruit from Sassicaia and other estate vineyards; these two wines are classified IGT Toscana. In collaboration with the Santadi Co-op, the estate also owns Agricola Punica in Sardinia.
Guidalberto is Tenuta San Guido's second wine . The 2020 is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot . The manual harvest began with the Merlot at the end of August and continued with the Cabernet Sauvignon, ending at the end of September. The bunches and berries of grapes are manually sorted before gentle pressing and destemming to prevent the breakage of the berries and an excessive release of tannins. The alcoholic fermentation took place in stainless steel tanks without the addition of external yeasts. Maceration lasted 12 to 14 days for the Merlot, and 13 to 16 days for the Cabernet Sauvignon with frequent pumping over to obtain more balanced musts and promote aromatic extraction. Following the malolactic fermentation also carried out in stainless steel vats, the musts are transferred to French barrels and, to a small extent, to American barrels for a period of 20 to 25 months .
The 2020 vintage in Tuscany experienced a mild and dry winter, which led to an early but homogeneous bud break in the vines. Spring was sunny, with some rain in May and June, which favored excellent flowering. The summer was hot and dry with good thermal amplitudes between day and night. During the last week of August, two beneficial rainy episodes came to invigorate the vines and lowered the temperatures allowing the grapes to complete their maturation. The harvest took place in ideal conditions with sunny days without peaks of heat. These conditions made it possible to obtain high quality grapes, with excellent phenolic maturity and great aromatic balance.
Grapes: Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot
