Tenuta San Guido - Guidalberto 2021
Tenuta San Guido is much better known by the name of its most famous wine: Sassicaia . The estate is located in the Tuscany region of Maremma , Italy , and has its own single-estate DOC designation (Bolgheri Sassicaia) applied to its flagship wine. Sassicaia , one of the original Super Tuscan wines, is made from Cabernet Sauvignon with a small amount of Cabernet Franc. The grapes used to produce Sassicaia are picked just before reaching full maturity, which contributes to finesse and fragrance as well as a lower alcohol level. After two weeks of fermentation in stainless steel vats, the wine is aged for between 20 and 25 months in French oak barrels, and a small part in American oak barrels.
Tenuta San Guido also makes Guidalberto and Le Difese using declassified fruit from Sassicaia and other estate vineyards; these two wines are classified IGT Toscana. In collaboration with the Santadi Co-op, the estate also owns Agricola Punica in Sardinia.
Guidalberto is the second wine from Tenuta San Guido. The 2021 is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot . The manual harvest began with the Merlot at the end of August and continued with the Cabernet Sauvignon, finishing at the beginning of October. The bunches and berries of grapes are sorted manually before gentle pressing and destemming to avoid berry breakage and excessive release of tannins. Alcoholic fermentation took place in stainless steel tanks without the addition of external yeasts. Maceration lasted 14 to 16 days for the Merlot, and 16 to 18 days for the Cabernet Sauvignon with frequent pumping over to obtain more balanced musts and promote aromatic extraction. Following the malolactic fermentation also carried out in stainless steel tanks, the musts are transferred to 225 liter barrels (with part French oak) and to a small extent (5%) to American oak barrels for 15 months . The barrel is made up of new barrels (40%), second-use barrels (40%), and third and fourth-use barrels (20%).
Grape varieties: Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot
