Tenuta San Guido

Tenuta San Guido is the Bolgheri estate that effectively created the "Super Tuscan" category. Marchese Mario Incisa della Rocchetta planted around one hectare of Cabernet Sauvignon at Castiglioncello di Bolgheri (around 400 m elevation) in 1944, recognising the gravelly soils as Graves-like. The cuttings were long romanticised as coming from Château Lafite or Latour; the official estate account names the Dukes Salviati of Migliarino, near Pisa, as the actual source.

The wine was made for family consumption from 1945 to 1967. The 1968 vintage was the first commercial release - hitting market in 1971, with Giacomo Tachis as consulting winemaker (the broader Antinori/Tachis collaboration that shaped Italian wine in those decades). The lineage runs Mario (founder) → Nicolò Incisa della Rocchetta (built the modern estate, now Honorary President) → third-generation cousins, with Priscilla Incisa leading external relations. Operational leadership: Alessandro Berlingieri (Chairman since 2022) and Carlo Paoli (General Manager since 2009, CEO 2025).

The Bolgheri Sassicaia DOC was established as a sub-zone within Bolgheri DOC in 1994 and became an autonomous DOC in December 2013 - the only single-estate DOC in Italy, defined exclusively on the Tenuta San Guido property at Castagneto Carducci. The estate spans around 2,500 hectares. Vineyards sit between 100 and 360 metres on soils of marl, gabbro, pebbles, and clay, across the Castiglioncello, Aia Nuova, Cerreta, Sassicaia di Sopra, and San Martino parcels.

The lineup: Sassicaia (85% Cabernet Sauvignon / 15% Cabernet Franc, around twenty-four months in French oak barriques with roughly one-third new); Guidalberto (introduced in 2000, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot); and Le Difese (launched 2002, around 70% Cabernet Sauvignon and 30% Sangiovese - the Sangiovese sourced from Chianti partners outside the estate).