2003 Sassicaia, Tenuta San Guido, Bolgheri Sassicaia, Tuscany, Italy

Ample, sweet and expansive, the 2003 Sassicaia offers generous notes of sweet dark fruit intermingled with notes of spices, herbs, earthiness and smoke in a full-bodied, opulent expression of this wine. It is an outstanding effort for the vintage. Some cellaring is suggested although with air this wine is drinking beautifully right now. Niccolo Incisa della Rocchetta is upbeat about his 2003s. “Of course it was a very hot, dry vintage, but under these circumstances Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc tended to perform better than other varietals such as Merlot. I am happy with the balance of our Sassicaia although clearly we can’t call it a ‘classic’ vintage. Sassicaia is a wine that needs bottle age to show its full potential and I am confident the 2003 will age well. Today it reminds me most of the 1978. (antonio_galloni - Wine Advocate - Feb 07)