Antinori Guado Al Tasso Matarocchio Bolgheri 2016

Guado Al Tasso is one of the jewels in the famed Antinori family’s crown. This is the winery’s flagship – 100% cabernet franc from the rugged, gravelly, alluvial soils of Bolgheri on the western coast of Tuscany’s Maremma region. 98 POINTS – and hundreds less than the typical retail...this is one of the finest examples of cabernet franc anywhere in the world.

Guado Al Tasso is located in the small, but highly revered Bolgheri DOC – a newly recognized region (in 1994) but one that has been producing some of Italy’s most prestigious wines for decades. This estate came into the possession of the Antinori family back in the 1930s when Carlotta Della Gherardesca (who would become Piero Antinori’s mother a few years later) married Niccolo Antinori. Carlotta’s sister would go on to marry one Mario Incisa Della Rocchetta – the founder of neighboring Tenuta San Guido, home of Sassicaia. The estates have shared in a familial rivalry ever since – forever changing the notion of Italian wine along the way.

The estate covers an area of about 320 hectares, set in a beautiful plain encircled by a crescent moon of rolling hillsides known as the "Bolgheri Amphitheatre." Here, the sandy and silty clay soils are covered with gravelly loam – giving a unique striation of soils that is a combination of both the Left and Right Banks of Bordeaux. Factor in the warm Tuscan sun that is moderated by the cooling ocean breeze and low-lying fog overnight and you have an environment quite similar to Napa Valley. It’s little wonder that cabernet sauvignon, cabernet franc, and merlot have come to thrive in this unique spot! This beauty is 100% cabernet franc – sourced from the best barrels, of a single plot on the estate, picked over the course of a single week in late September 2016. The grapes are cold-soaked for a week prior to fermentation to coax out maximum color and concentration and are allowed to undergo full malolactic fermentation in French oak barrels following alcoholic fermentation in tank. Aging occurs over 18 months in all French oak, with an additional year of bottle conditioning before release.

This is a penetratingly dark and livid cabernet franc, with a vibrant shine of ruby purple juice that captures nearby light like a collapsing neutron star. The aromas and flavors are deep and beguiling – with black raspberry liqueur, French plums, and black currants leading the way in terms of fruits – amply supported by notes of cocoa powder, roasted coffee, toasted black peppercorn, clove, and allspice. Sweet and elegant tannins coat the mouth and extend the finish ever onward, with a supple and juicy final gulp setting you up to contemplate your next sip eagerly. This is a fantastic effort from a tremendous, all-time great vintage that is truly a must-have for any serious collector. This will compete directly with Chateau Cheval Blanc – at nowhere near that price!