Winemaker Notes
Blend: 50% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot, 15% Cabernet Franc, 5% Petit Verdot
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Firm and refined with juicy fruit. Chocolate, berry and light walnut aromas and flavors. Medium body. Succulent and flavorful.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2017 Bolgheri Rosso Villa Donoratico is a thickly concentrated wine that pours from the bottle with generous flavors of blackberry and plum that are woven together with spice, tobacco and campfire ash. You can feel the power and exuberance of the dark primary fruit in this warm vintage. However, it does not lack freshness and acidity, which are ultimately what brings the wine into balance. The blend is 50% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot, 15% Cabernet Franc and 5% Petit Verdot (aged in oak for 12 months).
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Wine Spectator
A ripe, plush version, featuring mouthfilling blackberry, plum and spice flavors. Firm and dense, with a line of tannins on the earth-tinged finish. Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot.
One of the world’s most classic and popular styles of red wine, Bordeaux-inspired blends have spread from their homeland in France to nearly every corner of the New World. Typically based on either Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot and supported by Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petit Verdot, the best of these are densely hued, fragrant, full of fruit and boast a structure that begs for cellar time. Somm Secret—Blends from Bordeaux are generally earthier compared to those from the New World, which tend to be fruit-dominant.
An outstanding wine region made famous by Marchese Mario Incisa della Rocchetta, who planted Cabernet Sauvignon vines for his own consumption in 1940s on his San Guido estate, and called the resulting wine, Sassicaia. Today the region’s Tuscan reds are based on Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, which can be made as single varietal wines or blends. The local Sangiovese can make up no more than 50% of the blends. Today Sassicaia has its own DOC designation within the Bogheri DOC appellation.