Sassicaia, Tenuta San Guido 2022

The Tenuta San Guido 2022 Bolgheri Sassicaia reveals a beautiful fruit profile with fresh blackberry, tart cherry and Mediterranean tones of blue rosemary blooms and lavender sachet. I tasted this wine several times over the course of a few months, and it has already shown a happy evolution coming into slow focus like the faint colors that emerge from a Polaroid photograph. Indeed, the bouquet appeared more closed just a short while ago. The wine's strongest suit is its elegantly streamlined mouthfeel and its contained 13.5% alcohol content. These qualities add to the silky cleanness of the mouthfeel and the accessible freshness of this vintage. I am confident that this bottle will improve with time. It requires patience. Drink Date: 2028 - 2050

The wine is tightly coiled and concentrated. It feels almost cinched at the waist, with a fascinating tension between the weight of raspberry, blackberry and strawberry coulis fruit and the wine's verticality, as if it's trying to burst out. Lovely mid-palate sapidity is allied to fresh acidity and fine but dense tannins, making for a dark horse of a Sassicaia that isn't giving much away today but will greatly reward those who can cellar it for 12 years and more. ‘What is sure is that 2022 will need a lot of time, but will also have a long life,’ said Priscilla Incisa della Rocchetta. A hot vintage, 2022 caused the team to work in the newly completed refrigerated warehouses in San Guido, even moving the sorting table inside. Shorter macerations and 23 rather than the more typical 24 or 25 months of ageing in wood helped to maximise the freshness.

88% Cabernet Sauvignon, 12% Cabernet Franc, harvested throughout September. 13–15 days’ maceration. Aged for 23 months in French oak barriques (225 litres). TA 6.1 g/l, pH 3.45, RS 0.25 g/l.

Transparent crimson. Savoury, balsam, appetising nose. Much drier (as opposed to sweet) than the other wines here. Strong French influence on the reticent structure. Lots of fresh tannin currently dominates the fruit but the fruit is pretty nuanced and interesting. But it’s still extremely youthful. The most youthful wine here. Aerate before serving for many years. Drink 2028-2048.

The tannins are gentle and integrated even now, while still in barrel, and its provides a striking contrast wtih many 2022s from this corner of Tuscany, where concentration is the byword. Sassicaia is able to retain acidity even in the hottest summers, and the balsamic and butterscotch notes are beautifully balanced by rosebuds, lavender, red cherries, rosemary, fennel, charred sandalwood and tomato leaf. The frame is in place, and the density offset by a soft textural caress. Sample taken from three barrels, final wine to be shipped in a few months, after a dry vintage helped by a few rains here just before harvest. 40% new oak for ageing, Carlo Paoli director. Drink 2030-2050.

Opening with aromas of menthol, dark spice, blue flower and dark-skinned berry, the 2022 Sassicaia is impressive and defied my expectations. Hailing from what was a notoriously hot, dry year, the estate’s location, including its hillside vineyards, vicinity to the woods plus much-needed rain in August preserved freshness and aromas as did harvesting somewhat earlier than usual, shorter skin maceration and slightly less time in oak. Showing elegant restraint, it’s balanced and tense, delivering flavors of ripe blackberry, wild cherry, licorice and mint. It’s still quite tight and youthfully austere, with a backbone of firm, refined tannins and fresh acidity. Give it time to fully unwind. Drink 2030–2042