Tenuta Guado al Tasso, Il Bruciato, Bolgheri 2022

This Super-Tuscan is a wonderful blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot, Merlot and Syrah, grown in some of the most exciting vineyard area in Italy.

This 2022 vintage is bright and slightly fresher than previous vintages, making it more approachable in youth, with red berries, cherries, sweet spices and notes of tobacco, eucalypt and cedar wood. With a fine, firm and classic structure from the Bordeaux varietals the palate has excellent structure and an instantly mouth-filling fruit character with great complexity and a long, satisfying finish.

Situated on the coast about a hundred and fifty miles south-west of Florence, this Bolgheri estate has been home to the Della Gherardesca family since the 1600s. The estate is, strictly speaking, still in family hands: in the 1930s two of the Della Gherardesca sisters inherited the estate - one married the incredible Mario Incisa della Rochetta (who created Sassicaia in the neighbouring estate) while the other married into the Antinori family and became the mother of Piero Antinori, the late head of the entire Antinori portfolio. 

The wine is made with separate fermentation for for each variety and then careful blending of each into barriques for ageing, then bottling and resting before release to market.

The land is interesting for many reasons; the hills tumble right to the edge of dwarf-pine forest land that run right to the edge of the sea on very poor quality sandy soils; the other inhabitants being many families of boar; the vineyard area sits just above this edge on an amphitheatre-like curve that has excellent drainage and wonderful exposure to the sun. This land, once a marsh and full of malaria flies, once drained, became the perfect place to grow many grape varieties, interestingly suiting international varieties better (perhaps) than Italians. And so the fame for the region was built on Bordeaux and Rhône-like blends of Cabernet, Merlot and Petit Verdot, with beautiful Syrah wines appearing, sometimes blended with Sangiovese, but often not, especially for the top wines, of which there are many; and for which, there is no shortage of demand.

This estate was late to the super-Tuscan party in terms of its perceived calibre and price point. But that's all rectified now and the Guado al Tasso itself is fast-approaching €200 a go. Just in case you're interested...