2015 Tenuta San Guido Le Difese Toscana IGT

Producer Notes

The beginning of the Super Tuscan, or so the story goes: in the mid 1940’s Cabernet Sauvignon vines were planted at the Sassicaia estate in an attempt to produce a better quality Italian wine by blending it with the indigenous Sangiovese. The first commercial release in 1971 was a success and the Sassicaia name has remained synonymous with top end Super Tuscans ever since.
The vineyards are almost entirely planted with Bordeaux grapes (Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Cabernet Franc) and some local Sangiovese. The Cabernet Franc goes into Sassicaia (around 15% of the blend, the remainder Cabernet Sauvignon), the Merlot into Guidalberto (around 40% of the blend), and the Sangiovese into Le Difese (around 30% of the blend), making them very different wines and not different quality levels of a similar wine, altough the backbone of all three is Cabernet Sauvignon.