2022 Tenuta San Guido Guidalberto Toscana IGT
Regular price $64.98
94 Wine Advocate - Made with Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon, the Tenuta San Guido 2022 Guidalberto gives you a good taste of the same DNA that brings us one of Italy's greatest wines, Sassicaia, but it's offered in a more immediate style here (thanks to the addition of the Merlot). This warm vintage opens to medium-dark concentration and very plump aromas that take you immediately to blackberry and blackcurrant sitting out in the sun at your local farmers market. The wine shows a soft and gentle side with a pretty level of elegance transmitted through the fruit freshness and the light oak spice that is discernible here but delivered with grace.
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It is often referred to as "Baby Sassicaia" but Guidalberto is not the second wine to Sassicaia, but a standalone wine. A Bordeaux blend, it was first produced by Tenuta San Guido 23 years ago as an experiment with Merlot and as a wine made for earlier consumption while your Sassicaia ages gracefully in the cellar.
The label depicts the Oratory of San Guido and the wine is named after the family ancestor Guidalberto della Gherardesca, an agricultural pioneer in the Bolgheri area. It was in the first decades of the 1800’s when he built the first factories, and churches, and planned the avenue of cypress trees, the Viale dei Cipressi. These trees were initially used to mark the boundaries between the different crops. Its ornamental value, with the tall cypresses running in double rows, came after that. Guidalberto is from the producers of the legendary Sassicaia, with a more approachable drinkability and a great aging potential. It is a great expression of the Tenuta San Guido territory.