Winemaker Notes
Cont’Ugo 2020 in an intense ruby red color. The nose delivers intense aromas of small ripe red fruit accompanied by fresh balsamic notes of Mediterranean scrub. On the palate, a velvety entry is sustained by excellent richness of flavors persistent throughout the tasting, closing with a pleasantly fruity finish.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
A fresh, tight and structured merlot with vibrant notes of olives, red plums, cherries, tobacco, orange zest and stones. Medium-bodied with chewy tannins. Lots of energy. 100% merlot. Drink after 2023.
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Wine Enthusiast
Spicy and peppery on the nose with new leather and graphite, this wine also offers wildflowers and berries. The palate echoes the nose but reveals more depth, with coffee, earthiness and richer fruit. Firm but flexible tannins and healthy acid provide the contours for a lengthy finish.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The Guado al Tasso 2020 Bolgheri Rosso Cont'Ugo is a pure expression of Merlot that has absorbed the ripeness and softness of this hot vintage. Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc have a proven track record in these ever-more frequent warm vintages along the Tuscan coast, but early-ripening Merlot can sometimes come off as too ripe and jammy. This wine walks a fine line, and although it never shows excessive softness, you have to wonder how much further it can be pushed in light of climate change. Dark cherry and blackberry preserves cede to cedar and baking spice. The mouthfeel is round, soft and creamy.
The Guado al Tasso Estate is located in the prestigious Bolgheri DOC, part of the Tuscan coastal area of Maremma, known for its untamed landscape and unspoiled beauty. Just 60 miles southwest of Florence, it sits on a magnificent plain in the heart of the Bolgheri amphitheater, a natural phenomenon created by hills that embrace the sea and produce a mild and temperate microclimate. Blessed with ample sunshine and constant breezes that take the edge off the summer heat and winter cold, Guado al Tasso is the ideal environment for cultivating healthy vine growth and proper ripening of the estate’s grapes. Inherited from Carlotta della Gherardesca, and revolutionized by Niccoló Antinori, the mother and father of Piero Antinori, Guado al Tasso is a reference point property in the life and history of the family. Here the challenge is to create wines of absolute excellence, always representative of the Bolgheri history, culture, and winemaking traditions.
With generous fruit and supple tannins, Merlot is made in a range of styles from everyday-drinking to world-renowned and age-worthy. Merlot is the dominant variety in the wines from Bordeaux’s Right Bank regions of St. Emilion and Pomerol, where it is often blended with Cabernet Franc to spectacular result. Merlot also frequently shines on its own, particularly in California’s Napa Valley. Somm Secret—As much as Miles derided the variety in the 2004 film, Sideways, his prized 1961 Château Cheval Blanc is actually a blend of Merlot and Cabernet Franc.
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.