Winemaker Notes
Intense, concentrated and deep ruby-colored, this wine offers elegant, complex aromas of red fruit. In the mouth it is rich and dense, yet harmonious, with sweet, balanced tannins. The wine has a long finish with a depth and structure that ensure its extraordinary longevity.
Blend: 85% Cabernet Sauvignon and 15% Cabernet Franc
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
This is fantastic. Intense and super long on the palate. It's insanely complex yet subtle with so much going on, with a beautiful balance and tension. It is full and powerful with a big juicy character that goes on for minutes. Muscular yet covered with pretty fruit. Elegance with force. Hard not to drink.
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Decanter
Some torrefied, caramel notes on the nose, this is a wine that vibrates with a beautifully held together crimson red color. On the palate, there are signs of a hot vintage, with hints of exotic fig, yet it’s shot through with fresh crushed violet notes. Can feel some sun bleaching, although again a heady sweet spice fragrance takes over. This is grilled charcoal over a roasted blackcurrant Cabernet core. And then, just as you are wondering about the exoticism of the fruit, the sweet relief of fresh mint comes slipping in on the finish. What a beautiful wine. Elegant, but packs quite a punch.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The Tenuta San Guido 2009 Bolgheri Sassicaia showed marked concentration upon its initial release and was widely regarded as one of the richest expressions in the estate’s modern history. Today, the wine is in a beautiful place, offering intense fruit with blackcurrant, tobacco and savory notes that follow the classic Sassicaia blueprint but place greater emphasis on volume and texture, a profile that invites comparison with the 2023 vintage. The 2009 remains full and generous on the palate, yet what sets it apart is the striking freshness of the vintage, outpacing both 2012 and 2011 in terms of energy and lasting liveliness. This wine continues to get better every time I've been lucky enough to taste it.
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Wine Spectator
A tightly knit, dense red, full of black currant, cherry, herb and spice flavors. The tannins are aggressive now, but this is long and detailed, with an herb and spice aftertaste. A classy wine. Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc. Best from 2014 through 2028.
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Wine & Spirits
From the famed estate in Bolgheri, where the Marchese Mario Incisa della Rochetta first planted cabernet sauvignon in the 1940s, this is a grand vintage of Sassacaia that will need years to fully evolve. Plentiful spring rains prepared the vines for the hot summer of 2009, sustaining them with plenty of moisture in the stony, limestone-inflected soils. A portion of cabernet franc (15 percent) emphasizes the fresh tobacco and green herb scents in the blend, while the black olive flavors of young cabernet sauvignon fill out a plush, rich texture. This is silken in the middle, with acidity keeping it bright even as oak builds up in the finish. Cellar this for ten years or more to capture the vineyard’s fullest expression.
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.