Winemaker Notes
After just a few vintages Sondraia has become a classic in the Bolgheri area, thanks to a style that seeks a powerful profile but with harmony and finesse. Perfectly ripe grapes and painstaking work in the cellar yield a wine with intense notes of fresh fruit and herbs which follow through on the palate, where the wine opens up with great class and silky smoothness.
Blend: 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% Merlot, 10% Cabernet Franc
Professional Ratings
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Decanter
While Dedicato a Walter, a 100% Cabernet Franc, is the top wine of the estate, and Seggio is becoming the bestseller of the winery, Sondraia has increased in quality (and price). In 2017 it has an earthy minerality with spice complexity of clove, bark and walnut husk, supporting vibrant, ripe fruit. The mid-palate is very extracted yet velvety, leading to a warming finish.
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James Suckling
Really impressive for this hot vintage with blackcurrants, chocolate, and hints of walnut. Medium to full body. Polished and beautiful. Extremely well-crafted. Tight at the end. Needs three or four years to still open but getting there.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Marilisa Allegrini is the force behind one of the most dynamic and forward-thinking wineries along the Tuscan Coast. Poggio al Tesoro embraces alternative winemaking techniques such as amphorae and puts special effort into mapping in order to match the best grapes to terrain. Bolgheri is largely made of winemakers who come from other regions (Marilisa Allegrini is from Valpolicella), and these many "outsiders" have brought an exciting wave of innovation to these shores. The 2017 Bolgheri Superiore Sondraia is 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Franc with a relatively contained 15% alcohol content. The wine opens to an inky dark appearance with dried blackberry and plum and plenty of spice and smoke to flesh it out. Like other Bolgheri wines from this vintage, the tannins (both the fruit and the oak tannins, but mostly the fruit) are very powerful and tight. They add a point of stemmy bitterness to the close that makes me enjoy this vintage less than some of the others I have tasted.
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.