2019 Sassicaia, Tenuta San Guido, Bolgheri Sassicaia, Tuscany, Italy

Sassicaia 2019 spent 25 months in oak one-third new). ‘We are going longer in oak in the past few years,’ said Carlo Paoli, managing director of Tenuta San Guido. Quite pale in the glass, the nose is extremely graceful and intense with a lavender note enhanced by restrained bramble fruits, fermented citrus peel, an intense violet aroma and graphite minerality in depth. The attack is soft and full, the flavor savoury and cedary through to the finish, with integrated velvety tannins and lifted acidity. A perfectly woven structure is bound with signature freshness and fruit vibrancy, making this one for the long haul.

Drink 2022 - 2050

Tasted blind – we only know it is from 2019 and could be Ao Yun.

Relatively pale colour for a Cabernet. Cassis, leather, liquorice. Well-integrated oak gives light spiciness. Tight structure with a particular acidic drive. Malleable tannins. Bone dry, not quite austere, but certainly very savoury – the fruit is ripe but not at all overcooked. It is not hugely pleasurable at this stage but has the trappings of greatness beneath that young severity.

Drink 2024 - 2034

The 2019 Sassicaia is restrained and also a bit reticent in its first impression. Rose petal, dried herbs, blood orange, mint, sweet pipe tobacco, and cinnamon give the 2019 a striking aromatic presence. The 2019 is a mid-weight, very classic-feeling Sassicaia that is going to need a number of years to open.

There's good fruit depth, but the tannins are not as polished as they usually are. That could be a result of lingering stress from frost that year or recent bottling. The 2019 saw 18-20 days on the skins with natural ferments. Malos followed in tank. Ageing was 25 months in barrel 1/3rd new), a longer elevage than normal. The 2019 shows beautifully with a few hours of aeration, so I am optimistic for the future. Let's see what happens.

Drink 2027 - 2049

Hold +1 year or carafe for two hours.

Tasting this in a vertical with a good 20-year gap between the oldest and the youngest wines, and although this is only five years old, with clear density to the flavours, it's striking that the soft caress of the tannins that you find in 1988 is still in evidence in the younger wine. Smoky peat aromatics, rich red cherry, raspberry, balsamic, iron, oyster shell salinity, a careful climb in the tannins, it's all here already. It is a wonderful vintage in Tuscany, with great clarity on the palate and the feeling that you are in the presence of true beauty. Just at the starting blocks, but an exceptional wine. 40% new oak for ageing, Carlo Paoli director.

Drink 2025 - 2048

The purity of cabernet sauvignon fruit is exceptional here, with character and sensibility that’s reminiscent of some of the great Sassicaias from the 1980s, such as 1982 or 1988. But this is much more precise and clean. Aromas and flavors of currants and berries with cedar and earth.

Sage and minty character, too. It’s full-bodied yet there’s so much polish and balance, together with structure, elegance, and refinement. Hard not to drink at this stage, yet give it time and respect. This will be a classic Sass and reminds me why I love this wine.

Try after 2026

The 2019 Sassicaia is exquisite and refined, with interwoven cassis, leather, Mediterranean herbs, and dark mineral earth layers. It is medium to full-bodied, with ripe though present tannins and a long and elegant finish that lifts off the palate. It has fantastic energy throughout, with notes of black cherry, tobacco, and a stony texture. There is a classic and tension-filled sensibility that will benefit from several years in the cellar to achieve its full expression. Drink 2025-2045.

Home of the historic first vines planted to Cabernet Sauvignon in 1944, the first commercial release for Sassicaia was produced in 1968.

Drink 2025 - 2045

The bouquet is upfront and very expressive from the get-go. It offers a generous display of crunchy, dark cherry that hints at the extra concentration and fruit weight obtained in the 2019 growing season. This vintage will be remembered for the crisp richness of the fruit and its important textural imprint. It also shows fine elegance, bordering on the ethereal, with berry aromas, tarry earth and brushes of balsam herb or grilled rosemary. 

Sassicaia always shows an almost-glossy, finely knit quality to the polished mouthfeel, and I find it again here next to fresh acidity and firm tannins. Mouthfeel in 2019 is the wine's strongest suit. The 2019 is one of the prettiest and most balanced editions of Sassicaia we've seen this past decade, along with the back-to-back duo of 2016 and 2015. The 2019 marries the precision of the 2016 with the rich fruit weight of the 2015.

Drink 2025 - 2055