The prestigious American magazine Wine Spectator revealed the number one wine of its annual ranking crowning the 2015 Sassicaia, a DOC wine produced by a single company in the province of Livorno, as Wine Spectator Wine of the Year. Other two wines made it in the top ten: 9th came the 2016 Sicilian Etna Rosso 2016 (San Lorenzo) by Tenuta delle Terre Nere and the 3rd place has been taken by the 2015 Chianti Classico Riserva Castello di Volpaia.
The Incisa della Rocchetta family is the owner of Tenuta San Guido, in the Bolgheri hamlet of Castagneto Carducci, in Tuscany, the only land on which the wine produced can boast the appellation Bolgheri Sassicaia DOC. Mario Incisa della Rocchetta in the 1940s decided to plant vines in his gravel soil – Sassicaia means ‘the place of many stones’ – to produce wine for the family and created the original vineyards that have a southwest exposure with extensive sun and maritime breeze. About 20 years later he actually started to sell his wine and by 1991 the Bolgheri Sassicaia reached the 5th place in the Wine Spectator ranking with the 1988 vintage. This year the 2015 vintage – which is currently sold at $240 – scored 97 out of 100 and obtain the equivalent of the Nobel prize in the world of wine.
But it is not the first time for a Tuscan wine: the Italian wines that have obtained this recognition are 4, and all of Tuscany. In addition to Sassicaia this year, Brunello di Montalcino 2001 Tenuta Nuova di Casanova di Neri in 2006, Ornellaia 1998 in 2001, and Solaia 1997 in 2000.
Ilona Catani Scarlett