2010 Sassicaia Edizione Speciale
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Tasting notes
85% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Cabernet Franc. Dark ruby. Very subtle but notably ripe nose. Understated. Dry finish and slightly austere but very true to its origins. Tuscan claret with layers of mineral undertow! Something quite salty. (JR)
Critic scores
Antonio Galloni, Vinous
Monica Larner, Wine Advocate
More reviews and scores
I am perplexed by how the 2010 Bolgheri Sassicaia is performing at this moment. The wine has evolved quickly since the last time I tasted it a mere three years ago. At that time, I gave it 96 points and praised its extreme purity and pedigree. No doubt the wine still offers those qualities, but it also shows quickly developing notes of prune, jammy fruit and cherry liqueur that have abruptly moved to the front. It has consequently shifted the wine's center of gravity in terms of its delicate equilibrium and balance. In fact, it's almost too much of a good thing. The mouthfeel is chewy and succulent, and the bouquet is broad and flat. Now that the 2010 Bolgheri Sassicaia has completed this initial phase of its evolution, it seems stuck in a proverbial soft spot. I have shortened its suggested drinking window. There is a pungent point of volatility that is contributing to the wine’s quick decline.
The 2010 Sassicaia is just beginning to show the first signs of aromatic development. Sweet tobacco, mint, pine, dried cherries and licorice open up in the glass, but only with great reluctance. The 2010 remains a wine of striking precision and nuance, but it also has an element of classical austerity that is especially apparent today. Readers should be in no rush to drink the 2010. (AG)
Dark crimson. Round and gorgeous. Very silky. Savoury and well balanced. (JR)
About the producer
Tentuta San Guido produces Sassicaia – Italy’s most famous wine. An icon from the Bolgheri coastline of Tuscany, made from Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc, its rise to prominence in the late 1970s sparked the Super Tuscan revolution.