Why it matters
The producer
Tenuta San Guido is the Bolgheri estate that planted Cabernet Sauvignon on the Tuscan coast in 1944, kept the wine private for more than two decades, and eventually earned Italy's only single-producer DOC. The family is the Incisa della Rocchetta line, connected through marriage to the della Gherardesca, one of the oldest aristocratic houses in Tuscany. Nicolò Incisa della Rocchetta holds the title of Honorary President. Day-to-day leadership now sits with Carlo Paoli, who has run production since 2009 and became CEO in 2025, and Alessandro Berlingieri, who has served as chairman since 2022.
The three bottles in the current range form a clear arc. Le Difese is the estate's introductory wine, blended from Cabernet Sauvignon and Sangiovese and designed for drinking without a waiting period. Guidalberto, a Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot blend released from the 2000 vintage, adds body and ageing potential. Sassicaia, the Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc flagship, is the wine around which the appellation was built.
Place and vineyards
Where the wines begin
Bolgheri sits on the Tyrrhenian coast of Tuscany, in the province of Livorno. The Tenuta San Guido estate stretches 13 kilometres from the Bolgheri hills at around 400 metres down toward sea level, covering 2,500 hectares in total. The hills between Bibbona and Castagneto shelter the vineyards from cold northeasterly winds off the Apennines. In summer, breezes off the Tyrrhenian Sea cool the corridor, slowing ripening and preserving acidity in the fruit.
The pebble and stone content in the upper parcels drains freely and warms during the day, contributing to even ripening. The calcareous and marl-rich soils add mineral character to the wine and support the firm acidity that runs through Sassicaia even in ripe vintages.
In the cellar
Vineyards and cellar
Sassicaia is drawn from five named parcels across the estate rather than one single vineyard. The parcels vary in elevation, soil composition, and aspect, and the multi-parcel approach is how the estate manages the character of the final blend. Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc are grown in all five locations: Castiglioncello, the highest and coolest at around 360 metres; Aia Nuova, Cerreta, Sassicaia di Sopra, and San Martino at lower elevations with varying stone-to-clay ratios.
From the 1977 vintage, Sassicaia has been aged in 225-litre French Tronçais oak barriques. The 2021 vintage received 24 months of wood maturation; the 2022 received approximately 23 months. Both were then held in bottle before release. The barrique regime gives the wine its characteristic cedar and graphite register alongside the dark fruit and contributes to tannin integration over time.
Wines to know
The range in view
The three bottles sit at clearly different positions in the range.
Le Difese is the estate's accessible wine, blending Cabernet Sauvignon with Sangiovese. The Sangiovese element brings a lifted, tart-edged red fruit character and slightly lighter body, making the wine approachable without extended cellaring. It introduces the estate's coastal Cabernet logic at a level that rewards immediate drinking.
A useful way in
A bottle to begin with
Start with Sassicaia 2022. It is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc from the five estate parcels, aged approximately 23 months in 225-litre French Tronçais oak barriques before bottle ageing and release. The 2022 vintage produced a wine with deep colour, concentrated dark fruit, cedar and graphite on the nose, firm tannins that are already integrating, and a finish with genuine persistence. It is the wine that defines what the Bolgheri Sassicaia DOC means in practice: coastal Cabernet at elevation, aged in French oak. The 2022 represents the estate's current vintage style and is the clearest single-bottle entry into everything Tenuta San Guido built from 1944 onward.