Sassicaia 2020

When Marchese Mario Incisa della Rocchetta planted Cabernet Sauvignon on the Bolgheri coast in 1944 — two decades before French varieties were fashionable in Tuscany — he produced the wine solely for family consumption until the commercial debut of the 1968 vintage. That founding decision to harvest just before full phenolic ripeness, preserving fragrance over power, remains the house's defining technical philosophy today.

The estate's plots — Castiglioncello, Aia Nuova, Cerreta, and others — span 100–300 m elevation across soils of calcareous marl, gabbro, alberese, and ancient alluvial pebbles (the 'sassi' that name the wine). The Tyrrhenian Sea moderates summer heat while an amphitheatre of hills channels cooling sea breezes, producing lower natural alcohol and bracing acidity that separates Sassicaia structurally from riper Bolgheri peers.

Fermentation proceeds in temperature-controlled stainless steel at ≤28–29°C with estate-selected indigenous yeasts; malolactic is spontaneous, also completed in steel. The wine then ages 24 months in French oak barriques (Tronçais, Allier, Jupilles; approximately 40% new, 40% first-fill, 20% second-fill), a regime Mario pioneered in Italy before it became standard practice.

Sassicaia holds the only single-estate DOC in Italy — a classification with no domestic parallel — making it categorically distinct from every other Super Tuscan. The 2020 vintage delivered a warmer growing season, yielding polished tannins and approachable fruit concentration relative to the more austere 2016 and 2019; drink 2025–2038.