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
BLEND
65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Merlot, 12% Cabernet Franc, 3% Petit Verdot
CLIMATE
The 2008 vintage began with a rather rainy spring which created certain challenges to the cultivation of the vineyard and the health of the grapes. The summer, dry and quite warm, brought things back into balance and led to a harvest with fine weather conditions which allowed a careful selection of the best grapes, picked only when fully and completely ripe. The dry north winds which characterized the second half of September and a consequent lowering of temperatures led – in the case of late-ripening varieties such as Cabernet Sauvignon – to a further lengthening of the ripening cycle and a gain both in aromatic and structural potential while preserving a fresh and vibrant acidity.
VINIFICATION
The grapes were picked by hand and brought to the cellars in small cases. The clusters were carefully selected in the winery, both before and after destemming, and then given a soft pressing and each single vineyard parcel was fermented separately in order to produce a series of different wines. The fermentation took place in temperature-controlled stainless steel tanks at temperatures between 77° and 86° Fahrenheit (25-30°centigrade), and skin contact lasted from 15 to 20 days. During this period the extraction was induced by pumping over and by delestages (rack and refill), made on the basis of the characteristics and needs of the individual vineyard parcels. After the wines were run off their skins, they were transferred in new small oak barrels where, by the end of the year, they completed the malolactic fermentation. After 18 months of barrel aging, the finest lots were selected, blended, and bottled. The wine underwent an additional ten months of bottle aging and was then released.