GREAT ITALIAN WINES TASTING
Cabernet Grapes: Pure
Tenuta San Guido
Bolgheri (Livorno)
	In the 1920's, while a student in Pisa, Mario Incisa della Rocchetta dreamed of creating a thoroughbred wine. His ideal was Bordeaux. After settling with his wife Clarice in Tuscany, at Tenta San Guido on the Tyrrhenian coast, he experimented with some French varieties and concluded that Cabernet had "the bouquet I was looking for." The decision to plant this variety at Tenuta San Guido was in part due to the similarity he noted between this part of Tuscany and Graves in Bordeaux. Graves means "gravel," because of the stony ground characteristic of the area--just like Sassicaia, in Tuscany, an area with similar characteristics.      Despite the initial promise, the first results were not entirely successful. The wines were complex and needed more time to mature and develop. Between 1948 and 1960, Sassicaia was an entirely private domain, only tasted on the estate itself. The Marquis soon realized that the wine improved enormously with age.      In 1965, he planted two more new vineyards with Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc: the first (about 10 hectares) near Podere Sassicaia, and the second (three hectares) near Podere Aianova. Both are about seven kilometers from the sea at an altitude of about 80 to 100 meters. Sassicaia was later chosen as the name for this wine. The 1968 vintage was the first to be marketed and earned a reception worthy of a Premier Bordeaux Cru.
The wine: Sassicaia Bolgheri DOC 1999
	Grapes used: Cabernet Sauvignon 85%, Cabernet Franc 15% Production Characteristics: the climatic trends for the 1999 vintage can well be defined as "perfect." The harvest took place in the second half of September. Fermentation at controlled tempeature in steel vats (Syrah 5/15° C., Sangiovese 15/35° C. and Cabernet Sauvignon 15/25° C.) excepting 35% Cabernet finished in barrels. Malolactic fermentation "in barrique." The wine was refined in wood for 17 to 20 months (12 month separately nine months as a blend). Battling was performed in May 2002. Alcohol: 13.68% vol.
Presented by Piero Incisa della Rocchetta
	Piero Incisa della Rocchetta, grandson of Mario Incisa della Rocchetta, inventor of Sassicaia, and nephew of Niccolò Incisa della Rocchetta, who currently manages the family estate, grew up on the property in the Tuscan Maremma. He attended school in Switzerland, earning a degree in economics. After working briefly with a Swiss bank, he moved to California where he earned a degree in business. Returning to Italy, he was involved in the operations of two wine estates in Umbria, Titignano and Salviano, which are owned by his mother, Nerina Corsini Incisa della Rocchgetta. In 2000, he returned to the U.S. to earn a master's degree in hospitality and management at New York University.      Piero Incisa della Rocchetta is currently working at the family's Tenuta San Guido wine estate at Bolgheri where he is in charge of the U.S. market.
Winery
	Tenuta San Guido Loc. Capanne, 57020 Bolgheri (Li) Tel: 39 0565.762003 . Fax: 39 0565.762017 Email: citaispa@infol.it