Sassicaia by Marco Fini

Sassicaia

In the foreword to this attractive coffee-table edition the prominent Italian wine expert, Burton Anderson recalls, ‘Italian restaurateurs voted Sassicaia ‘wine of the century’ by a wide margin, in a poll conducted by the magazine ‘Civiltà del bere’.

In a second foreword, James Suckling of ‘The Wine Spectator’ writes ‘Sassicaia is the quintessential Italian Cabernet Sauvignon, although the wine usually includes about 20% Cabernet Franc in the blend. It’s the perfect balance between a highly regarded Bordeaux and an esteemed Napa Valley Cabernet.’

Two comments, which sum up in just a few lines what Sassicaia is today. The book however tells much more - in its 163 glossy pages - about the history and background of the wine that became, in 1994, the first ‘Super Tuscan’ and which fetches consistently high prices in auctions. The delightful photography of Stefano Hunyady captures the style and character of the San Guido Estate (home of Sassicaia) and the surrounding Tuscan countryside, exhibiting the beauty we have come to expect from this region.

Author Marco Fini takes us on a fluent journey, which begins with the history of the Incisa della Rocchetta family and their involvement with wine over 1,000 years ago. He explains how the Marchesi Mario Incisa had begun work on his plan for ‘a miniature vineyard’ by testing soils and their exposures to the elements ‘before selecting land at 350 metres (1,137 feet) and then planted 1,000 vines on little more than 2,000 square metres’. The problem immediately arose of ‘blackbirds and wild boar attacking the vines’. Later, from 1943 – 1968, Sassicaia remained a private aristocratic plaything, until in 1968 the Marchesi entered into an arrangement with his cousins, the Antinori family, to market the wine and streamline the operation. Oak casks for fermentation were replaced with stainless steel and the wine took on a new charm, attracting compliments from many international wine professionals. Most gratifying to the Marchesi was a letter he received one day from the late Baron Philippe de Rothschild of Chateau Mouton-Rothschild fame. It read ‘Dear Colleague, Your wine is wild and savage but brilliant.’ and that term ‘colleague’ brought the greatest pleasure to him. It told him that he had been accepted into the highest class of all.

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