“A quintessential Sassicaia that represents the excellence of the vintage and also respects the unique taste profile of this distinguished Tuscan blend of Cabernets Sauvignon and Franc. The Tenuta San Guido 2021 Bolgheri Sassicaia offers impeccable balance, excellent freshness and absolutely no signs of over-ripeness. The fruit balance is ideal with a hint of crunch and lasting tension from pulp and skins. The tannins are deftly managed with firm grip and enough velvetiness to add volume and length. There is no greenness on the bouquet that instead offers mulled herbs and spice, with cinnamon and clove, layered delicately between mostly red and some purple berry fruits.

Redcurrant, blueberry, sweet pomegranate and Rainier cherry run strong in this vintage. A fragrant hint of heritage rose emerges with time. The oak tones are geared toward gingerbread, hazelnut, cigar, sandalwood and something like a grilled sweet red pepper. To the palate, it offers nice weight with no heavy glycerin, and a rinse of acidity that adds to the wine’s natural energy, brightness and viscosity. That marked freshness opens the wine up to long aging potential, but you still need to give it more time in bottle.” (Monica Larner)

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A very perfumed Sassicaia on the nose with forest floor, citrus and deep dark fruits. Blackcurrants. Cedar and black tea. Some balsamic. Pine needles. Full and very succulent. Really long, structured and complete. Tangy and energetic with a linear line of fresh tannins and acidity. Very Sassicaia throughout. Very attractive now in a youthful and vibrant way, but this will be better in three to four years. Try after 2027. (March 2023)

96 points | Wine Advocate

The Tenuta San Guido 2020 Bolgheri Sassicaia speaks to those who seek a more voluptuous, opulent and, ultimately, more accessible wine. This vintage precisely reflects Coastal Tuscany, unlike a more generic "Tuscan" wine from elsewhere in this large central Italian region. You taste the ripeness and soft fruit weight from a coastal appellation with exceptionally bright luminosity and warm Mediterranean offshore breezes. Sassicaia from the cool vintages is a famously reticent or withholding wine in its earliest years, requiring a long lead time before it eases into an ideal drinking window. That's definitely not the case here.

This wine is beautiful and compelling straight out of the gate, showing a lovely mix of dark fruit, oak spice, balanced freshness, textural richness, soft tannins and an expertly contained 14% alcohol content. The wine's immediate character is what distinguishes this vintage, and I wouldn't get too fussed by exaggerated cellar-aging ambitions. The wine awards sheer pleasure in its current form, with dazzling primary fruit and soaring intensity over the near and medium term.Drink 2024 - 2042. (Monica Larner Jan 2023)

18/20 points | Jancis Robinson

Full bottle 1,370 g. In this case, the prototype Maremma Bordeaux blend Cabernet Sauvignon with Cabernet Franc. Canopy was especially vigorous in spring and needed trimming, followed by a warm summer with occasional showers, meaning the grapes ripened more than a week earlier than usual. To retain Sassicaia's trademark freshness, harvest started in the first week of September and ended in the last week of September with vines on the hills at over 300 m (Vigna di Castiglioncello and Vigna del Quercione). The wine was matured for 25 months in 45% new French oak barrels before going into tank for selection and blending.

Mid crimson; easy to see the bottom of the glass. Intense nose with a hint of iodine. Great tanginess that seems more Tuscan than Bordelais. Long and really builds towards its ample finish. Bone dry. Embryonic but convincing that a fine future lies ahead. Subtle rather than flashy. I wouldn't guess it was as much as 14%. I aerated it and gave it an hour in a young-wine decanter. Drink 2024 - 2038. (Feb 2023)

97 points | Vinous

The 2020 spent 15-18 days on the skins, followed by 25 months in French oak, 50% new. Production is down about 30% because of selection in the vineyard.

The 2020 Sassicaia is a bold, rapturous wine. Dark, fleshy and expansive on the palate, the 2020 offers scents of blackberry jam, gravel, spice, new leather, liquorice and crème de cassis. The sheer intensity of the fruit nearly buries potent tannins. Sassicaia is never a huge wine; the 2020 does seem to have an extra dimension of textural intensity. It's an intensity that is hugely appealing. Estate Manager Carlo Paoli describes 2020 as a year with a long, rainy winter and a cold spring. "Temperatures warmed up in the middle of June," he explained. "July was very hot, but heat moderated in August. Even so, it was a year in which ripeness moved quickly, as opposed to 2021, when ripeness was more gradual. We picked the entire estate in 22 days instead of the 29-30 that is more typical." Drink 2028 - 2050 (Antonio Galloni Feb 2023)

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Masseto Toscana IGT 2020 has "Intense and full on the nose, fragrant with ripe black fruit, floral aspects and soft spicing. Round and full on the palate, it's rich and muscular yet tight and neatly coiled with a liquorice, graphite, pepper, cinnamon and clove tang that gives this immediate but enjoyable spice. Feels well worked, juicy with high acidity that lifts the palate and gives freshness and brightness alongside really quite mouthwatering strawberry and raspberry fruit with such captivating dried floral and bitter orange rind aspects. Tannins are super fine and so well integrated yet this maintains a grip and hold from the very beginning through to a long and sustained finish. Nuanced and complex, still packing a punch in terms of power, but this feels sophisticated, suave, purposeful and controlled. Not elegant, this is more of a caged animal with it's full potential yet to be unveiled, but it is classy. A truly delicious wine with so much purity and sense of place. Malolactic fermentation in 100% new barroques, with each batch kept separate for the first 12 months of ageing before being blended and returned to barriques for another year, totalling 24 months. The wine was then aged for a further 12 months in bottle before being released."

99 Points | Wine Enthusiast

Masseto Toscana IGT 2020 "A hedge maze of aromas greets the nose, from blackberries and black cherries to crushed stones and crumpled petals, before a gentle addition of vanilla and toasted coconut. Mixed berries with vanilla and cardamom soak the palate, followed by freshly tilled dirt and flinty stone notes, and finally an astringent, brooding spiciness on the back. Tannins are tightly stitched together across the palate like a tapestry, with acrobatic acid emphasizing a salt and pepper finish. A wine that speaks volumes without shouting."

96 Points | Robert Parker

"The 2020 Masseto now sees new DNA with a touch of Cabernet Franc added to this celebrated Merlot-based icon wine. This is a vintage of enormous richness and density, and everything about the wine is taken up a notch or two (including the bottle glass weight and the 15% alcohol content). But Axel Heinz and his team are well prepared for the hot vintages like 2020, and changes to farming and canopy management ensure even ripening. This wine is always hard to analyze in its youth. It needs many more years to soften and flesh out. Give it time."

97 Points | Wine Spectator

"Complex, with a luscious texture and saturated plum, blackberry, black olive, iron, tobacco and toasty spice aromas and flavors, this red features a full, rich timbre. Offers a lively, well-integrated structure, with a long aftertaste of fruit and spices and a pleasant chalky feel. Merlot."

18 points | Jancis Robinson

"Merlot plus some Cabernet Franc. Harvest 14–16 September. Spontaneous fermentation with indigenous yeasts at 25–28 °C, with pumping over two or three times a day and délestages where necessary. The total time in tank ranged from 21 to 28 days. Malolactic fermentation in barriques, with 100% new oak, keeping the various batches separate for the first 12 months of ageing. Subsequently, the wines were blended and returned to barriques for another year, totalling 24 months’ oak ageing. After bottling, the wine was aged for a further 12 months before release."

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"The Masseto Toscana IGT 2012 is an incredibly sexy wine. I can’t believe how expressive it is here. The year was mostly warm and dry, but not excessively so. Raspberry jam, mint, spice, white chocolate and sweet floral notes all race out of the glass. Sumptuous in feel, with gorgeous, open-knit fruit and soaring aromatic intensity, the 2012 dazzles from start to finish. What a wine!" (AG) (tasted Jan 2020)

99 Points | James Suckling

"Masseto Toscana IGT 2012 has "Fantastic aromas of lavender, rosemary, violets and currants. Full body, a wonderful concentration of fruit yet tense and taunt energy. The new wood is exposed now but will become integrated and polished. Give it three or four years together. The pure Merlot magic is there. The 2011 was a perfect wine, and this is very close indeed. Drink in 2019." (tasted Aug 2015)

95 Points | Wine Advocate

"The 2012 Masseto is seductive from the first sip. The 2011 edition of this wine was very successful, and not too different in character from this wine. What the 2012 vintage offers instead is a level of textural richness and creaminess that is absolutely outstanding. The very nature of the fruit feels velvety and silky smooth, without a single ripple. The bouquet reveals upfront aromas of dark cherry and spice that are contrasted perfectly against one another. Classic vintages of Masseto include 2001 and 2006. The 2012 vintage doesn't offer the same backbone firmness as those years, but it offers lots more exuberant richness instead. Some 32,000 bottles were produced. The wine should hold forward for many, many years. Drink 2017-2037" (Monica Larner tasted Oct 2015)

As a tribute to its rugged force, its softness, and the debt it owes to the soil from which it rises, Masseto was named after the rock-hard clusters of blue clay called ‘massi’ that form on the vineyard’s surface.

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