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Viinin Kuvailu
The Story
After almost 30 years of experimentation and solid work the Marquis decided to release Sassicaia´s 1968 vintage to the open market using his cousin´s, Antinori´s distribution network in the early 1970s, with instant sensation. At a Decanter tasting of Cabernet wines in London, 1978, Sassicaia from vintage 1972 beat all the other 33 wines of France and California, and since then Sassicaia has been one of the leading wines in the world and in great demand among wine collectors and investors. The marquis Mario Incisa della Rocchetta passed away in 1983. His son, Marquis Nicolò Incisa della Rocchetta, now oversees all estate operations.
Sassicaia means “the place of many stones,” and refers to the region’s gravel soil. The original vineyards have a southwest exposure with extensive sun and maritime breezes that create robust vegetation. The grapes were handpicked, destemmed and crushed before fermenting with natural yeasts for 15 days in temperature-controlled stainless steel tanks. The wine was aged in French oak barriques (40% new) for 24 months, then refined for 6 months in bottle before release.
Wine Information
The seasonal cycle in 1994 was characterized by a rather rainy spring with the exception of the month of March, which offered days of blue skies and almost hot weather. But as April approached, the curtain reopened to cloudy, foggy, rainy days through the greater part of May. It was also cool. But the summer was dry, nearly arid, and August was extremely hot, almost torrid.... Fortunately the forest which surrounds the vineyards of Sassicaia impeccably carried out its role of moderator and guardian of the microclimate in terms of temperature as well as of humidity. And then, the soil, still supplied with springtime's abundant moisture, became the primary factor contributing to the exceptional development of
the vine and its stable metabolism, which in turn bore exceptional fruit.
Harvest: Bunches of "barrique grapes", which is to say bunches with thick-skinned berries rich in color and noble tannins were the norm during the harvest that began on September
8th in the Aianova vineyard.
Wine making: The must obtained at harvest resembled dark blood from the density of its
polyphenols and anthocyanins. The sugar levels were exactly in balance and, after the malolactic fermentation, the total acidity established itself at 5,5%o. It should be noted that the process of transformation of the malic acid, which is a rule for us, was
carried out for the most part in the barriques into which the wine had been placed immediately after the primary fermentation, precisely in the third decade of October.
Ageing: The evolution in wood was superb, and with each racking we were able to confirm organoleptic progress not only in terms of the stable physiological progress of the wine but also in terms of the optimum role the French casks had played: 50% were new, and for the balance, most were of second passage with an extremely modest fraction, which we desired, of third passage, in order not to allow a disproportionate influence of new oak on the wine itself. A great wine made in barrique, we think, must never be too marked by the barrique.
