Le Difese Magnum

Tenuta San Guido is one of those winery that made the history of Italian wine in the world. It extends for 13 km in the Maremma Livornese between the Colline Metallifere and the Tyrrhenian Sea in the hamlet of Bolgheri, part of the Municipality of Castagneto Carducci. It’s here that Count Giuseppe della Gherardesca, descendant of San Guido della Gherardesca, founded the estate in the early 1900s. But the oenological turning point occurred in the 1940s with Mario Incisa della Rocchetta, his son-in-law, who once took the reins of the property, creates one of the most famous red wines in the world, Sassicaia. His intuition stems from the similarity between the Bolgheri and Graves territories in Bordeaux, from which the stimulus and then the desire to produce a Bordeaux-style red wine aged in barriques, planting Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon grapes. The first vintage 1948 was produced to be consumed without any pretensions between relatives and friends and was called Sassicaia for the stony composition of the land. In 1968 it was marketed for the first time and the collaboration with the winemaker Giacomo Tachis began. At the beginning, the world of wine in Italy was perplexed by the use of international vines and barriques, but then the rest is history, becoming one of the most famous and prized reds in the world, a symbol of Made in Italy excellence. A large part of Sassicaia’s international prestige is due to Nicolò Incisa dell Rocchetta, son of Mario, faithful to his father’s intuition, as well as the creation of other great red wines such as Guidalberto since 2000 and Le Difese since 2002, other precious gems from Italian enology.

Le Difese was born muted from the large Bolgheri winery but over the years it has turned out to be a great red. The fermentation is at controlled temperature in steel vats, and the maceration lasts about 12 days for both the Cabernet and Sangiovese varieties. The refinement is in French and American oak barriques for 12 months, followed by a further refinement period in the bottle for another three months.

Region: Tuscany

Year: 2023

Alcohol content: 13.5%

Volume: 150 cl.

Winery: Tenuta San Guido

Grape: 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Sangiovese.

Name:  Toscana IGT

Pairing: Ideal with grilled meat, roast chicken with potatoes.