Wine Advocate
byMonica Larnerthe6/30/2015
Tasted from barrel, the 2014 Bolgheri Sassicaia is at a very awkward stage in its infancy. I won’t venture in unfounded conjecture, but I will try to describe what we can ascertain from the wine at this young stage. The fruit is weak in intensity and the wine’s color is a very light garnet hue. At great risk, the Marchese Incisa della Rochetta decided to put off harvest as long as possible. This was a cool and damp year that presented a big challenge to fruit ripening. Fruit came off the vines the last week of September, but sugar (and alcohol) readings had a tough time rising. The wine shows delicate tones of violets and wild berry. At the time of my tasting, it had only been in barrique for ten days. I doubt this wine will ever have the structure or complexity of other recent vintages.When Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi made a state visit to Washington, D.C. this past April, he packed a few bottles for the trip. He selected four wines to share with President Barack Obama. According to media reports they were Sassicaia (the 2011 vintage), Ornellaia, Tignanello and a Brunello di Montalcino by Mastrojanni. The statesmen sampled the wines together and President Obama joked that it would be “insulting” not to taste them. During a press conference, he turned to Renzi and smiled: “I will give you, Matteo, a report on whether it is up to the quality we expect.” Born in Florence, Prime Minister Renzi made a sound selection of wines from his native Tuscany to share with the American president. Of these wines, none is more iconic than Sassicaia. Roughly one month prior to the White House wine summit, I was in Bolgheri at Tenuta San Guido to taste a few older vintages of Sassicaia including the 1982 and 1998. I was also able to taste preview samples of the excellent 2013 vintage and the challenging 2014 vintage.