Tenuta San Guido - Guidalberto 2015
Tenuta San Guido is much better known by the name of its most famous wine: Sassicaia . The estate is located in the Maremma region of Tuscany , 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 composed of Cabernet Sauvignon with a small amount of Cabernet Franc. The grapes that go into the production of Sassicaia are picked just before reaching full maturity, which contributes to the finesse and the perfume as well as to a reduction in the alcohol content. After two weeks of fermentation in stainless steel vats, the wine is aged between 20 and 25 months in French oak barrels, and a small part in barrels of American oak.
Tenuta San Guido also makes Guidalberto and Le Difese from declassified fruit from Sassicaia and other estate vineyards; both are classified IGT Toscana. In collaboration with the Santadi Co-op, the estate also owns Agricola Punica in Sardinia.
Guidalberto is the second wine of Tenuta San Guido. The 2015 is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot . The manual harvest began on September 1st with the Merlot and continued with the Cabernet Sauvignon, ending in late September. Grape clusters and berries 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 10 to 11 days for Merlot, and 11 to 14 days for Cabernet Sauvignon with frequent pumping over to obtain more balanced musts and promote aromatic extraction. Following malolactic fermentation, also carried out in stainless steel vats, the musts are transferred to French oak barrels and, to a small extent (5%), to American oak barrels for 20 to 25 months .
Grape varieties: Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot