85% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Cabernet Franc. Fermented in stainless steel for 15 days at controlled temperatures, with regular pumping over and delestage. Aged in French oak barrels for 24 months and a further six months in bottle. TA 5.5 g/l, pH 3.62, RS 1.3 g/l. 220,000 bottles. Really classy stuff. Great balance. Very grown-up and sophisticated. Very dry and restrained and different from most.

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The 2008 Sassicaia is a rich, deep wine imbued with notable class in its black cherries, plums, grilled herbs, minerals and smoke. The 2008 is a decidedly buttoned-up, firm Sassicaia that is currently holding back much of its potential, unlike the 2006 and 2007, both of which were far more obvious wines. Readers who can afford to wait will be treated to a sublime wine once this settles down in bottle. Muscular, firm tannins frame the exquisite finish in this dark, implosive Sassicaia. The 2008 Sassicaia is 85% Cabernet Sauvignon and 15% Cabernet Franc. The wine spent 24 months in French oak barrels. Anticipated maturity: 2018-2038.

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Refined and elegant, this is right in step with the reserve of the vintage. Blackberry, plum, cassis and mineral flavors play out with subtle oak spice notes on the finish, where this flexes some muscle. Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc.

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This is the best young Sassicaia in years. It's the new 1988, which was great, and sometimes better than the legendary 1985. What incredible aromas here with blueberries, spices, licorice, plums. Graphite too. Subtle and complex. Full and silky with a beautiful texture of fine tannins and an ultra-fine finish. So beautiful now but will be much better in 2015. Owner Niccolo Incisa della Rocchetta says that Sassicaia is always great in years that end with eight: 1958, 1968, 1978, 1988, 1998, and 2008.

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