Tenuta San Guido

Sassicaia is the pioneering Super Tuscan wine produced by Tenuta San Guido, created by Mario Incisa della Rocchetta in the Bolgheri region of Tuscany. He planted Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc vines in the 1940s for private consumption, and the first commercial vintage was released in 1968.

Sassicaia is primarily a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc, with Cabernet Sauvignon typically making up roughly 80 to 85% of the blend depending on the vintage. The use of Bordeaux varieties rather than indigenous Sangiovese was highly unusual in Tuscany when the wine was first produced.

Because Sassicaia did not conform to Italian DOC regulations—which required Sangiovese or other approved local varieties—it was initially classified as a lowly Vino da Tavola (table wine). Its international success eventually prompted Italian authorities to create the Bolgheri DOC in 1994, with Sassicaia receiving its own single-estate DOC subzone, an extremely rare designation.

Tenuta San Guido is located in Bolgheri, on the Tuscan coast in the province of Livorno, Italy. The estate spans approximately 2,500 acres, though only a small fraction is devoted to vineyards, with the remainder used for agriculture and the San Guido wildlife oasis established by the Incisa della Rocchetta family.