Sassicaia 1980
SKU:
SGD650.00
SGD650.00
per item
Vintage: 1980
Producer: Tenuta San Guido Sassicaia
Varietal: 85% Cabernet Sauvignon 15% Cabernet Franc
Appellation: Vino Da Tavola
Alcohol Content: 13.5%
Drinking Window: 1985-2025
Scores (if you care about): 91+/100 Robert Parker
90/100 James Suckling
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Celebrating a personal milestone in 2020 or that of a friend? The perfect gift for someone's 40th is the spectacularly brilliant and yet respectfully carrying its charm and all that praise casually, Sassicaia 1980.
Sassicaia obviously is not new to the fame but back in 1980 it wasn't in every collector's wine cellar, where it should have been although it had started gaining the just recognition a few years ago in 1978. The story goes, that at a 1978 Decanter tasting of "great clarets", a panel including Hugh Johnson, Serena Sutcliffe and Clive Coates awarded the 1975 Sassicaia victory over a field of 33 wines from 11 countries, and established the wine's international reputation. So, by the time the 1980 came, Sassicaia was already well known to an extent.
(Obviously, the famous and now legendary status continues to be reserved for the 1985, the one that was awarded the 100 points by Robert Parker where he admitted, he often mistook it for 1986 Mouton-Rothschild.)
The only wine from a single estate in Italy to enjoy the privilege of having been granted a DOC of its own (Bolgheri Sassicaia DOC), it’s truly a Tuscany gem. Sassicaia wasn’t the first super Tuscan per se but Marchese Mario Incisa della Rocchetta was indeed the one who sowed the seeds of the Super Tuscan movement by choosing to import the so called Bordeaux varietals (Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc) to plant in his vineyard in Bolgheri instead of the native Tuscan, Sangiovese. The wine, initially planted for just personal consumption (and it remained as much for over two decades), over the period of time became so good that it when it finally hit the market around the late 1960s, it was an instant sensation. An equal credit goes to the fortuitous coming together of Marchese Mario Incisa with the oenologist Giacomo Tachis. Giacomo Tachis was awarded Decanter Man of the year in 2011.
Tachis joined Antinori’s San Casciano winery in Tuscany in 1961 as a junior oenologist, rose to technical director, and in 1968, in a move which was to cement his reputation as an innovator, he lent his services to the Bolgheri estate of San Guido to help in the creation of a new wine – Sassicaia.
Tasting Notes and Reviews
"The very interesting 1980 Sassicaia offers many of the delicious precursory qualities that ultimately remind you of the legendary 1985 vintage. The wine opens to a pretty garnet hue and shows youthful color stability and saturation. The mouthfeel is opulent and rich with an important sense of consistency and texture, which wraps thickly over the palate and delivers prolonged endurance. There is an evident note of sweetness that recalls primary aromas of dried cherry and sun-sweetened plum. But you also get a contrasting mineral or marine salt-like layer that keeps the wine from tasting too heavy or thick. Balanced acidity contributes in refreshing the palate. This is yet another overlooked vintage that shows surprising results today." 91+/100, Monica Larner, Apr 2017.
"Spearmint, berry and mint with currant and licorice. Medium to full body with silky tannins and pretty licorice and aniseed flavor. Long and beautiful for the vintage. Surprisingly excellent. Drink now." 90/100, James Suckling." Oct 2018.
Sassicaia obviously is not new to the fame but back in 1980 it wasn't in every collector's wine cellar, where it should have been although it had started gaining the just recognition a few years ago in 1978. The story goes, that at a 1978 Decanter tasting of "great clarets", a panel including Hugh Johnson, Serena Sutcliffe and Clive Coates awarded the 1975 Sassicaia victory over a field of 33 wines from 11 countries, and established the wine's international reputation. So, by the time the 1980 came, Sassicaia was already well known to an extent.
(Obviously, the famous and now legendary status continues to be reserved for the 1985, the one that was awarded the 100 points by Robert Parker where he admitted, he often mistook it for 1986 Mouton-Rothschild.)
The only wine from a single estate in Italy to enjoy the privilege of having been granted a DOC of its own (Bolgheri Sassicaia DOC), it’s truly a Tuscany gem. Sassicaia wasn’t the first super Tuscan per se but Marchese Mario Incisa della Rocchetta was indeed the one who sowed the seeds of the Super Tuscan movement by choosing to import the so called Bordeaux varietals (Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc) to plant in his vineyard in Bolgheri instead of the native Tuscan, Sangiovese. The wine, initially planted for just personal consumption (and it remained as much for over two decades), over the period of time became so good that it when it finally hit the market around the late 1960s, it was an instant sensation. An equal credit goes to the fortuitous coming together of Marchese Mario Incisa with the oenologist Giacomo Tachis. Giacomo Tachis was awarded Decanter Man of the year in 2011.
Tachis joined Antinori’s San Casciano winery in Tuscany in 1961 as a junior oenologist, rose to technical director, and in 1968, in a move which was to cement his reputation as an innovator, he lent his services to the Bolgheri estate of San Guido to help in the creation of a new wine – Sassicaia.
Tasting Notes and Reviews
"The very interesting 1980 Sassicaia offers many of the delicious precursory qualities that ultimately remind you of the legendary 1985 vintage. The wine opens to a pretty garnet hue and shows youthful color stability and saturation. The mouthfeel is opulent and rich with an important sense of consistency and texture, which wraps thickly over the palate and delivers prolonged endurance. There is an evident note of sweetness that recalls primary aromas of dried cherry and sun-sweetened plum. But you also get a contrasting mineral or marine salt-like layer that keeps the wine from tasting too heavy or thick. Balanced acidity contributes in refreshing the palate. This is yet another overlooked vintage that shows surprising results today." 91+/100, Monica Larner, Apr 2017.
"Spearmint, berry and mint with currant and licorice. Medium to full body with silky tannins and pretty licorice and aniseed flavor. Long and beautiful for the vintage. Surprisingly excellent. Drink now." 90/100, James Suckling." Oct 2018.