Winemaker Notes
Castello di Bolgheri is a selection of the best vineyards around the Castle. The grapes undergo a very delicate vinification through pumping over and delestage and a long stay in contact with the skins.
Blend: 75% Cabernet Sauvignon, 18% Cabernet Franc, 7% Merlot
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
An opaque red, the 2020 Castello Di Bolgheri is open with aromas of pencil shaving, toasted pine, licorice candy, lavender, and blackcurrant. Fleshy and full-bodied, it retains good freshness and offers a velvety texture and a good bit of length. It is going to do well to rest another year in bottle.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
In the bottle with the white label, the Castello di Bolgheri 2020 Bolgheri Superiore shows a hint of savory greenness with peppercorn, bay leaf, baked plum and blackberry preserves. The oak adds sweetness with cinnamon and nutmeg over a very generous mouthfeel with thick, chalky tannins that need a few more years of bottle age. With a 15% alcohol content, this wine is more intense on the palate compared to the bouquet. The effect is almost burly or pugilistic, setting this wine up for a pairing with hearty winter dishes. That hit of chili flake that we saw in the Bolgheri Rosso appears again here. Some 25,000 bottles were released, and the blend is 75% Cabernet Sauvignon, 18% Cabernet Franc and 7% Merlot.
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Wine Spectator
This red leads off with ample iron and savory aromas and flavors, courtesy of eucalyptus, wild rosemary and mineral notes, all framing the core of pure black currant and blackberry fruit. Taut and firmly built, with fine length. Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Merlot. Best from 2025 through 2040.
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James Suckling
Notes of toasted spices, dark cedar, cocoa and bark with a mix of red and blue fruit in the background. Full, compact and lightly chewy with firm, vertical tannins. Spiced, ripe and intense, yet well-integrated and balanced with tension and persistence. Needs some time in the bottle. Try after 2025.
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.