The Tb points given to this wine are the world’s most valid and most up-to-date evaluation of the quality of the wine. Tastingbook points are formed by the Tastingbook algorithm which takes into account the wine ratings of the world's best-known professional wine critics, wine ratings by thousands of tastingbook’s professionals and users, the generally recognised vintage quality and reputation of the vineyard and winery. Wine needs at least five professional ratings to get the Tb score. Tastingbook.com is the world's largest wine information service which is an unbiased, non-commercial and free for everyone.
Wine Description
The Story
Guado al Tasso is the prestigious flagship wine of the Tenuta Guado al Tasso, and it fully expresses the Bolgheri terroir in all its structure, elegance and complexity. It is a cabernet sauvignon-merlot blend introduced with the 1990 vintage and it is one of Antinori’s world class Super-Tuscan wines. The successive vintages are 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996 and 1997. All the vintages have been produced in limited quantities.
Situated in Maremma on the Tuscan coast, 96km south-west of Florence, the Guado al Tasso estate extends from the green hills surrounding the old village of Bolgheri down to the sea. This beautiful plain is called the anfiteatro bolgherese due to the fact that the hills enclose the plains overlooking the sea to form a natural amphitheatre.
If one could sum up Antinori’s philosophy in a sentence it would be, according to Marchese Piero Antinori, "Age-old roots play an important role in our philosophy, but they have not served to inhibit our innovative spirit." In fact, Antinori continually experiments in its vineyards and at its wineries.
Wine Information
The favorable weather patterns at the beginning of spring favored an early budding of about one week for the various varieties. All through the spring we had excellent weather, warm temperatures and the right amount of rain, resulting in excellent flowering and the relative vegetal cycle. This optimal vegetative balance of the vines ended in full ripening between the end of July and the beginning of August, about 7 to 10 days earlier than usual. The excessive heat wave around mid August, lasting only a week, did not slow down maturation, and the first grapes gathered showed immediate promise of an excellent vintage. Due to the early ripening of the grapes, we began our "green harvest" just after mid-August, selecting and thinning to eliminate any excessive production. In conclusion, the early harvest coupled with a rainless period of picking allowed us to bring in excellent mature grapes.
VINIFICATION
Merlot was harvested at the beginning of September, the Cabernet Sauvignonfrom mid September. After destemming and light crushing, the Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon were vinified separately; maceration took place in stainless steel tanks over a period of 15-20 days, during which time alcoholic fermentation was also completed, at a temperature never exceeding 30 °C. The resulting wine is rich in colour and very structured but soft on the palate, without any astringency. The wine were then transferred to new French oak barriques (Troncais and Alliers) where malolactic fermentation was completed by the year's end. The wine were then racked, blended and then returned to the barrels for about 14 months aging, followed by aging for about one year in bottles before release. Alcohol : 14,0% Vol.
60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot, 10% Syrah and other red grape varieties.
