Tenuta San Guido, Toscana

As a student in Pisa during the 1920’s, the Marquis Mario Incisa della Rocchetta dreamed of creating a “noble” wine. After settling with his wife, Clarice, into their Tuscan estate at Tenuta San Guido on the Mediterranean Coast, he experimented with several French grape varieties and concluded, “the bouquet I was looking for” was found in the Cabernet. . No one had ever considered making a wine crafted along Bordeaux lines on Italian soil, much less in a region not yet established viticulturally. However, accustomed to the light, local wines, consumers did not respond well to the first vintages of Sassicaia. Wines made from the more complex Cabernet Sauvignon grapes take more time to mature and develop. Subsequently, from 1948 to 1960, Sassicaia was consumed only at the estate. Each year, a small number of cases were laid down in the cellars of Castiglioncello. The Marquis discovered that as the years went by, however, the wine greatly improved. In 1965, he planted two more vineyards comprised of Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc; the new “Sassicaia” vineyard was situated approximately 800 feet lower than the original Cabernet vineyard near Castiglioncello. The 1968 vintage of Sassicaia was the first to be offered on the open market. The first vineyard of Incisa della Rocchetta is the cradle of Italian Cabernet Sauvignon.

The marquis Mario Incisa della Rocchetta passed away in 1983. His son, Marquis Nicolò Incisa della Rocchetta, now oversees all estate operations.