Winery and Vineyards

Tenuta San Guido is a winery that from 1948 to 1967 solely produced for the own consumption of the Incisa della Rocchetta family. It all began in the figure of Mario Incisa della Rocchetta, a young student who had the dream of creating Bordeaux-style wines. Thus was born Sassicaia, a wine that comes from stony soils and that when it began to be marketed was such a success that the Tuscan region of Bolgueri began to be known as one of the best winegrowing places in the world. The vineyards of Tenuta San Guido Le Difese are located at an altitude of between 100 and 300 meters and a south and southwest orientation. These are vines planted on limestone soils rich in decomposed marl and clay and where conventional agriculture is practiced. Cultivation is traditional, with a yield of 5,800 vines per hectare, and the grapes are harvested by hand. In the winery, the grapes of Tenuta San Guido Le Difese are carefully sorted on the sorting table. They are then destemmed and gently crushed to ferment at controlled temperatures and with indigenous yeasts in stainless steel tanks. During this process, each variety separately undergoes a maceration with skins for 13 to 15 days for the Cabernet and 15 to 18 days for the Sangiovese. Finally it ages for 12 months in French and American oak barrels.