Tenuta San Guido

In the fascinating panorama of the Tuscan coast of Maremma, between Livorno and Grosseto, stands the Tenuta San Guido, a precious reality because of its excellence, not only oenological. Before dedicating itself to the production of Bolgheri Sassicaia DOC, the best wine in the world according to experts, the main activities of the estate were aimed at the purebred Dormello Oliata horse breed and the Bolgheri Marshes Faunal Refuge, the first in Italy.

When, in 1943, Marquis Mario Incisa della Rocchetta moved to the old family estate, he decided to dedicate himself to the cultivation of grapes. The land of Bolgheri, praised by the poet Carducci in his famous verses, had long been underestimated from an oenological point of view: no one had yet recognized its extraordinary wine vocation.

Mario Incisa della Rocchetta had clear ideas right from the start: to produce a Tuscan wine on the level of the great Bordeaux of France. So he planted the first Cabernet-Sauvignon vines, first in the hills, then on steep, stony ground, called 'sassicaia'. The Cabernet vines benefited so much from this particular conformation of the terroir that soon the wine produced with the grapes of the vineyard enchanted with their exceptional qualities.

Sassicaia made its debut on the wine market in 1968, with three thousand examples bottled in the Antinori winery, close to Tenuta San Guido both geographically and because of a family link. At that time, Sassicaia did not enjoy any denomination, but soon obtained the recognition of the DOC Bolgheri Sassicaia, the only one to be entirely included in the property of a winery.

The fame of Tenuta San Guido is the result of a historical intuition, which over the years has earned it the highest international level of appreciation, the latest in chronological order being the opinion of the authoritative magazine Wine Spectator, which awarded Sassicaia 2015 as the best wine in the world.