Le Difese

Pair with grilled steak or steak salad, hamburgers and other casual but flavorful beef dishes. Has good acidity to compliment marinara and bolognese sauces.

For a long time Bolgheri's Castiglioncello was used as Sassicaia's winery as it was the closest building to the vineyards at more than 300 m a.s.l..But as new vineyards were planted at greater distances and lower altitudes, a new larger winery had to follow. The new, more central location was decided in the 1960s. This is where it can be found today, on the cypress alley, close to the San Guido Oratory, which gives the estate its name. A third smaller winery was built in 2007 by architect Agnese Mazzei, it houses the barriques for the ageing of the Sassicaia.

A very good vintage that influenced in a very positive way the wines of 2015. After a mild and rainy winter, the vegetative start was in the second week of April with the arrival of spring and higher temperatures. The spring rains helped a lot the vegetation and ensured the water supply for the following summer. The excellent flowering ended in late May, and the perfect setting favored by a good climate. In June and mid-July temperatures were above the seasonal average, but by the end of July the temperatures got lowered returning to the average thanks to a long rainy day, really good for the vines. Rains helped a lot avoiding any physiological stress for the vines and helping growing the grapes favoring veraison. The good temperature range between day and night that occurred from late August helped an optimal phenolic ripeness of the grapes. Grapes were with an excellent quality with a perfect ripeness, pretty cool and crisp. The great structure combined with elegant and soft tannins is the main element of this vintage.

At the end of the malolactic fermentation, the wine is aged for 12 months in oak barriques. It then spends 3 months in bottle before the release.

Pressing and soft crushing of grapes. Fermentation in stainless steel tanks at controlled temperature and without adding external yeasts. Maceration on the skins for 10-13 days for the Cabernet Sauvignon and for approximately 13-15 days for Sangiovese, with later phases of pumping and delastage. The malolactic fermentation is always in stainless steel tanks