2018 Tenuta San Guido Guidalberto Toscana Tuscany 750 ml

The 2018 Guidalberto takes you to the doorstep of one of Italy’s most revered and iconic houses and, for a stunning value, invites you inside to share in the rich pleasures and traditions of the place where the Super Tuscan category was born.

Tenuta San Guido is, of course, the producer of Sassicaia, the Super Tuscan behemoth that dates back to the 1940s and launched the craze for magnificently powerful, Bordeaux-influenced Italian red blends.

But beginning in 2000, this legendary winery began fashioning a more affordable “baby” Sassicaia, called Guidalberto. While Sassicaia ($225+) is built to age for decades, this younger sibling mirrors that benchmark cuvée’s poise and aristocratic bearing, but with a lushness and unfolding intensity that makes it immediately approachable. After the first sumptuous, plum-accented sip, it’s all but impossible to stay away from.

In the glass, you’ll find the pedigree that has earned Tenuta San Guido comparisons to the First Growths of Bordeaux, the Grand Crus of Burgundy, and the blue-chip estates of Napa. It’s made from some of the same estate vineyards as Sassicaia, but without the investment-bottle price.

Shipped direct from cellars that most collectors dream of visiting, this bottle had us entwined in a symphony of flavors and aromas from the moment the glass was poured, releasing a bouquet steeped in rose petals and black cherry and dosed with licorice. A wave of herbal spice and dark fruit, supported by muscular tannins, carries through to a long, balanced finish that makes you want to hop right back on this ride. It all led Vinous to call the 2018 “positively stellar,” noting its “striking depth and nuance,” while Wine Enthusiast calls it “racy and delicious.”  

While your stiffer Super Tuscans slowly develop, open up the 2018 Guidalberto to be reminded of why the Bolgheri vineyards that produced this wine are some of the most treasured in the world.

The story of how Tenuta San Guido changed the way Italy and everyone else thought about Tuscan wine begins with one man’s obsession. Beginning in the 1920s, the Marchese Mario Incisa della Rocchetta, an expert breeder of thoroughbred horses, became preoccupied with the idea of recreating the best of Bordeaux on stony Italian soil.

The results of his early plantings of Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc on the estate land along the Tyrrhenian coast were strictly consumed by the family. But as the wines aged, it became impossible to ignore that the Marchese’s Bordeaux-styled efforts were stunning, with the power and elegance to match the famous estates of Graves or Pomerol. By the early 1970s, Sassicaia was setting a new benchmark for excellence in Italian wine, and inviting a horde of imitators.

While devoted to tradition and extremely classical in style, Tenuta San Guido is also an expert at evolving, adjusting the location of vineyards over time to produce a more polished, fresh expression of Tuscan terroir. One step in that evolution was the decision 20 years ago to begin producing Guidalberto, blending Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot from vines younger in age than the hoary old-timers behind Sassicaia.

The selection of vineyards, and presence of Merlot, give this wine a silkier, softer presence on the palate, while still charged with the pedigree that has made this estate an icon. 15 months of aging in French and American barriques locks in all the wine’s signature spice-scented smoothness.

This 2018 bottling is an ideal way to understand the historic terroir that produces Super Tuscan glory, without having to spend Sassicaia money—straight from the legendary cellars of Tenuta San Guido.