Professional Ratings

• 100 Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

  This is a benchmark vintage, offering special appeal thanks to its profound sharpness and precision. The Tenuta San Guido 2021 Bolgheri Sassicaia remains fixed and immobile, like a time capsule of the vintage itself. One member of the winery team with whom I tasted used the word “granitic,” referring to its frozen, statue-like posture, a description I found especially fitting for the wine’s character. Whereas the 2016 vintage shows iron-like minerality, the 2021 reveals brilliant limestone clarity followed by dark currant, dried mint and blood orange. Cabernet Franc is reduced to 12% in this blend alongside Cabernet Sauvignon. The mouthfeel is complete and profound, defined by freshness and firm texture, and even when revisited nearly an hour later, this stone statue of a wine did not budge. This is a bottle clearly built for long cellar aging.

• 99 Decanter
  In 2021, ‘we had a nicely paced harvest... surely a very fortunate vintage for us, for Bolgheri,’ said Priscilla Incisa della Rocchetta at the launch in London of the 2021 vintage of Sassicaia. Welcome rain in mid-August came at just the right time to save the harvest, and production ended up being slightly higher than in 2020. Around eight to 10 separate vinifications were made, fermented in stainless steel with indigenous yeasts and spontaneous malo. The wines were racked to second- and third-use barriques in December 2021, then racked into a mixture of new and used barriques in March 2022. The last step was to make the final blend in stainless tanks, where the wine underwent micro-oxygenation before bottling and further maturation in bottle. Rich dark fruit and herb aromatics are pockmarked by blueberry and petrichor, leading into an intense and vertical palate that's super-fresh with a delightful breezy, saline character. Textured, integrated tannins emphasise the refinement of Sassicaia, showing just a touch of youthful dustiness. Tangy, bright black, blue and red berry fruits overlay underlying hints of dark chocolate and forest undergrowth in a remarkably precise fashion, with pomegranate and a stony minerality surfacing on the mid-palate. 2021 demonstrates lovely sapidity of fruit along with that characteristic freshness and lightness of step, finishing long and poised. Superb.
  Range: 99-100
• 99 Jeb Dunnuck

  The 2021 Sassicaia is remarkable for being simultaneously complex yet transparent. In the glass, it displays a bright jeweled ruby red hue. On my second tasting of this wine, the nose was much more expressive than in my initial tasting the previous day, offering pure aromas of raspberry, pretty lifted spices and lavender, dusty earth, and fresh Mediterranean herbs, and as it opens, it develops notes of rhubarb, incense, and sandalwood. The palate is pure and expressive, with well-defined, ripe tannins, seamless acidity, and refreshing saltiness, but its shining pure fruit is what stands out and will shine for decades to come.

• 98 James Suckling

  Very classy and typical of Sassicaia with currant, tobacco, chocolate, sage and lavender on the nose and palate. Medium- to full-bodied with very integrated and refined tannins that are caressing and pretty with a lovely length and beauty. Such finesse and structure at the same time.

• 98 Vinous
  The 2021 Sassicaia is one of the best young Sassicaias I can remember tasting, certainly on par with anything in recent memory. The preference here is picking on the earlier side relative to many neighboring properties, which is one of the reasons Sassicaia is always a wine of refinement more than opulence. At the same time, Sassicaia can be light. Not in 2021. All the elements came together during a long growing season to produce a rich, deep wine that marries textural intensity with classicism. Dark cherry/plum fruit, spice, new leather, menthol, licorice and spice all race across the palate. Time in the glass brings out the wine's textural intensity and sheer power. The 2021 is one of the most concentrated Sassicaias on record. That allowed for long macerations, as long as 20 days for some Cabernets. Aging was 25 months in French oak barrels (95% French, 5% a mix of Hungarian and Slavonian wood), 40% new, 40% once-used barrels and 20% in twice-used barrels. One of the recent developments here is some bâtonnage in aging, which is used to build texture. That approach worked well in 2021. In a word: magnificent.
  Rating: 98+
• 98 Wine Enthusiast
  Comforting and luxurious, if restrained at first, on the nose, like hot coffee with a slice of warm berry tart, then suddenly more serious, with aromas of leather-bound books and crisp fall air. The palate is utterly laden with berries but also vibrating with acid, and tannins feel like a silk textile, strong and supple, tightly stitched and flowing through an endless finish.
• 98 Wine Spectator

  Rich yet elegant, laced with black cherry, blackberry, cedar, mineral and oak spice aromas and flavors, this resonant red builds to a long, detailed aftertaste. Shows great balance, with vibrant acidity and refined tannins, yet this should benefit from a few more years of aging. Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc.