Sassicaia wines tasted: 1968 – 2015

The 2015 vintage was also a very hot vintage and produced a bolder, riper style of wine which was much loved and appreciated by wine...

This is just starting to get into its stride. From a cool year, with a late start to spring and an early end to summer...

The Sassicaia 2013 is just beautiful, and it takes a leap forward in quality. There is even greater precision and transparency with the aromas and...

Structure and shoulders are a little more obvious here, the colour deepens and widens, and the power is evident right from the first nose. A...

The 2011 Sassicaia comes from a vintage with a cold winter, a mild spring with abundant rains and a very good difference in temperatures between...

The 2010 vintage was another cool year, with a wet start then a hot and dry July before more rainfall in August. Picking didn't finish...

Some torrefied, caramel notes on the nose, this is a wine that vibrates with a beautifully held together crimson red colour. On the palate, there...

The 2008 Sassicaia has plenty of dark fruit and it is still tight and youthful. On the palate there is bright acidity and a vibrant,...

A splash of sweet strawberry purée just slightly indicating the age of this wine, and it is a vintage that is already drinking well. Beautiful,...

The 2006 Sassicaia still has a dark garnet colour while nose has an impression of smoke and crushed dried flowers and some subtle, charred toast...

The 2005 vintage was very similar to the 1999 in that it was quite hot, but by 2005 there was a larger surface area of...

The salinity comes through clearly at this point, which gives beautiful lift and grip. I just love how Sassicaia wines can play with tannins. They...

The 2002 vintage was considered one of the worst vintages ever to produce grapes. It was so rainy and wet that many producers decided not...

Clearly stronger and richer in colour than the 2002, with a wonderful nose, you feel the older Cabernet coming through on this now, merging together...

Initial reviews of Sassicaia 2000 were disparaging but now, at 23 years old, it's into its tertiary phase and in full blossom: pronounced scents of...

1999 was a warm vintage and a very hot summer throughout Tuscany, but it was not as hot as 2005 or 2003. There was no...

Seductive and greedy, the welcoming nose shows we are in full stride at this point. These wines are sharing their secrets, highlighting the floral aspects...

On the nose, this has softened and closed in just a touch. It was seen as exceptional on release, but right now it’s not delivering...

Am loving that tingle of tannins that I am now getting, just beautiful. The florality is heightened, with roses and redcurrant leaf, soft white truffles,...

This has a very different expression to other Sassicaia wines, which all stand as testament to their vintage and location; they evolve and give a...

Still rich in spicy undertones, this is a wine with great interest, but it is still not displaying the glorious confidence of the 1995 and...

I can feel a slight step change at this point, more tertiary flavours are coming in — a clearer tang of salinity and soft olive...

The Mediterranean personality comes through more clearly in this vintage: the garrigue and Tuscan brush aspect. Alongside the plummy fruit core, the aromatics are overlaid...

You can feel the gathering of dusk here, with the soft debris of tannins and anthocyanins as its structure softens with age. Beautiful persistency, not...

The nose is practically humming, hovering close to perfection, the burnished Tuscan sun on full display. This is the most perfect level of ripeness, warmth,...

The edges of this wine are turning to brick, we finally get some of the Tuscan terracotta that until now has been remarkably missing. Here...

Herbaceous notes, this seems like wet earth, geosmin. Although the palate remains fairly powerful, the salinity and saffron character is not as balanced by fruit....

Coffee grounds and a good tannic hold, with excellent balance between acidity and tannins pinning the bramble fruit into place. Here you can practically feel...

Coffee grounds on the nose, autumnal red berry fruit beginning to soften, although as yet the palate isn't shortening. It is changing both its expression...

Wow, this is practically bursting out of the glass and out of the line-up. Black olive tapenade, salty anchovy tang, rosemary and sage, against the...

Classic older tertiary aromas showing. Truffles, undergrowth, clear salinity. Perhaps not the persistency of some, and just the trace of a drying finish. In fact,...

This is highly aromatic and complex, quite unusual. Notes of salted caramel shortbread, grilled pistachios and almonds, mixed in with the olives and autumnal fruits....

As has been the case with so many of these wines, the thing that is striking is the lightness and grace, this once again proves...

Astonishing just how youthful and intact the colour is; the core is very much dark velvet, edges starting to brick but not so much as...

Hints of salted caramel, clear sweet edge that gives a shot of pleasure on the attack. Tannins are still apparent, valiantly holding on. The silky...

The colour has begun to brick and soften to a terracotta, although the core is still a few blushes deeper. The intensity on the palate...

A firm vintage with fairly full integrity of fruit. This still tastes young with notes of sweet cherry and damson jam — rich and evocative...

The year of Star Wars, when here they were in Tuscany creating their own legend (okay, that was a line from winemaker Carlo Paolo). The...

The colour is flattening out a little, turning to a cold coffee hue. On the palate, gentle cranberry flavours give sweetness, and the grip is...

Deep in colour, this swings back to a powerful richness, whilst remaining surprisingly young, with its tannins in line and still kicking up a wonderful...

Heading to terracotta, brick, coffee grounds, giving off more of a glow of red than the reality of it. Butterscotch and redcurrant on the nose,...

Incredibly deep colour, rare for a 1972 in Bordeaux certainly, the grapes seem to have had more luck over in Italy. This has coffee grounds...

Quite different again from other vintages of this wine: more smoky, a little more impactful perhaps than the 1972 upfront, but less graceful through the...

The first ever vintage made in partnership with the Antinoris. The bottle is still very much alive. Though gentle and resisting, the tannins are still...