By the time these words have been posted to the World Wide Web and arrived in the inboxes of The Hub email subscribers, this correspondent believes the premier Canadian allotment of the 2021 vintage of Sassicaia, which is for sale through the Liquor Control Board of Ontario at $316 CAD a bottle, will have sold out. Those that secured a bottle on the Thursday before will this morning be waking up secure in the knowledge that their cellar will soon hold a perfect wine.
The Tenuta San Guido Sassicaia 2021 was, earlier this year, given a perfect score of 100 points by Monica Larner, Italian critic for Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate. In her review, she writes: “Here it is: A quintessential Sassicaia that represents the excellence of the vintage and also respects the unique taste profile of this distinguished Tuscan blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Franc.”
I’ve met Larner on the wine trail. I remember going out for a drink after dinner with a group of journalists and winery owners in Sicily. I sat next to her. When one of the producers decided to play host and pick-up the round, she politely refused in a friendly but firm way and insisted on paying for her drink herself.
Larner would not risk any question of her independence over the price of a cocktail on the piazza. If Monica Larner gives a wine 100 points, it’s because she has decided herself it’s worth it.
On the Tuesday morning before the Thursday 2021 Sassicaia Ontario release (there are also releases this year in Quebec, Alberta, and B.C.), I was unaware of Larner/Parker’s 100-point score when a glass of the wine sat before me. This is not because I don’t read other reviews before I taste famous wines. I do—I just hadn’t seen Larner’s, and instead had read another critic who I respect. That score was high, though not perfect.
The 2021 Sassicaia that I tasted was put in a vertical with a glass of the 2020 and 2019 beside it. It was the second flight of a trade and media tasting held in Toronto and overseen by Priscilla Incisa della Rocchetta. Signora Incisa acts as a brand ambassador for her family’s winery in the Tuscan coastal region of Bolgheri, Tenuta San Guido. I wrote about her, her family’s history, and some earlier vintages of the San Guido wines at The Hub after her last visit to Toronto in 2022.
The Incisa della Rocchetta family only makes three wines and all of them are red. The line begins with Le Difese, named after the tusks of wild boar. It’s blended with estate Cabernet Sauvignon and Sangiovese from inland Tuscany. We had the 2022 which was delicious, ready to drink now, and played between clean black fruit from the Cabernet and red from the Sangiovese. If I saw this on a wine list in the next few years for around $100 I would order it right away.
Then, we tasted through the 2022 and 2017 Guidalberto wines made with an estate blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. My note on the 2022 included an underlined phrase: “clarity + balance.” There is certain elegance to all the Tenuta San Guido wines and this showed it well, and though the fruit was quiet and shy it showed as dark red and Mediterranean. I would come back to it in a decade.
Bottles of Tenuta San Guido wine. Credit: Malcolm Jolley.
On the other hand, the 2017 Guidalberto, made from a warm year, veritably exploded out of the glass. Black currants, blackberries, Violets, and a bit of scrubby herb. I would look for it on lists now. Since the Guidalberto wines retail around $80, they should list around $200.
Primed for the main event, the Sassicaia’s did not disappoint. The most approachable was the 2020. The wines are made to age, but they show great promise of depth and fruit young. The 2020 the most; though the tannins were certainly present and happy to make themselves known, they were kind enough to let enough purple bramble fruit and violet florals through, especially after a vigorous swirl in the glass.
The 2019 I had tasted previously and it, again, really brought back the idea of Sassicaia as a Tuscan take on Bordeaux with a dominant cassis note. It’s own wine, but somehow reserved and precise in a Gallic way. I would give it until the end of the decade to really start stealing the show. Or decant it at least an hour before serving now. Even then, I would be tempted to leave half of the wine on the sideboard to be revisited the next day, if I had the self-control. (I probably don’t.)
The 2021, the star of the show, the focus of commerce this year, the perfectly scored wine, very much echoed the 2019. It’s not that its tannins caused friction or even a pronounced dryness in the mouth. I think it’s more like they lay like a blanket over the black currant fruit and somehow savoury, herbal character. But from under that blanket would poke out that clarity of flavour and absolute equilibrium.
The aspects that had made the Le Difese fun and jovial seemed to have grown up in the Sassicaia, especially the 2021 and 2019, in a real way. A serious way to pleasure. Whoever has a bottle of either in their cellars today will have a very good time tomorrow.
But, is the 2019 Sassicaia a perfect wine? Does such a thing even exist? The easy answer is of course not. Do perfect people exist? They do not, though we still manage to love imperfect ones very much. And the right wine at the right time, like the right person at the right time, can complement, if not bring, much happiness.
To be fair to Larner, who has dedicated her life to being fair to the wines that she reviews, her 100 point score may not be meant to be an expression of absolute perfection. Wrapped up in the score and the review is the potential of the wine not yet realized.
The potential looks as good as it could. And on Tuesday, I thought the 2019 Sassicaia was as good as could have been. The fun will be to see how it turns out the next time we meet.
Malcolm Jolley is a roving wine and food journalist, beagler, and professional house guest. Based mostly in Toronto, he publishes a sort of wine club newsletter at mjwinebox.com.
