Tuscan Tasting - with Sassicaia!!

On Thursday I went to The Wine Society in Stevenage for a Tuscany Workshop presented by their Italian wine buyer, Sebastian Payne MW. This cost £49.

There was no prior information about the wines that would be shown and I was surprised at the retail value and maturity of the wines we did have.

From 18:30 they were very generously pouring an aperitif Prosecco. No price info was given but checking TWS website afterwards it’s listed at £17 a bottle.

Upstairs each setting had 8 wine glasses with a good measure, I estimate >= eighth of a bottle pour. A 9th glass would be filled with the final wine, a dessert served with mince pies.

4 of the 9 tasting wines were marked as ‘for tasting only’ and no price was shown. Afterwards I checked winesearcher.com and show the prices below.

The 9 wines tasted were

1) Meriggio Fontodi 2014 £17

This was a Sauvignon blanc shown as ‘for tasting only’ but it's on the TWS website at £17

OK savvie, Sebastian said little about it except that he felt it was too expensive to compete in a crowded SB market

2) Chianti Rufina, Frascole 2013 £10.95
80/20 Sangiovese/Canaiaolo

Soft, light but theres a good tannin grip on the finish

3) Vino Nobile di Montepulciano Tre Rose, Santa Caterina 2013 £13.30

70% Sangiovese. Beautifully perfumed, soft fruits dry tannins on finish. My second favourite of the night. I will buy this one and try it with food.


4) Cepparello Isole e Olena 2010 Magnums £99.50 magnum

100% Sangiovese, aged in wood. Could be labelled as Chianti Classico but they don’t as they’ve been making it since before Classico rules changed in 2000 to allow 100% Sangiovese.

My favourite, beautiful balanced wine, lovely fruit/tannin.


5) Colledila Chianti Classico Gran Selzione, Brolia) 2011 £34

Another 100% Sangiovese, but not for me. Had a dusty smoky nose and a sour finish, but others on the table really liked it.


6) Brunello di Montalcino Riserva, Gianni Brunelli 2010 £55

Ripe sweet fruit, delicious. Equal 2nd favourite


7) Sassicaia Tenuta San Guido Bolghere 2005 ‘for tasting only’

Well, what a surprise! Introduced without a fuss, no indication given of its cult status or price. The Super-Tuscan!

Good vintage, picked early before grapes raisined, Cabernet Sauvignon 90% Cabernet Franc 10% 13.5% abv.

It was a lot less expressive than the previous Sangiovese, it was dry, taut with sweet fruit and finesse. Winesearcher lists this at £210


8- Flaccianello della Pieve, Fontodi 2004 Magnums ‘for tasting only’

Enjoyable with good fruit structure.

Winesearcher lists this by the bottle at £82.50


9) Vin Santo del Chianti Classico, Fontodi 2005 half bottle ‘for tasting only’

Dark colour, treacle sweet, gorgeous, mmm, another mince pie please.

Winesearcher lists this at £32 a half


So some expensive wines, presented by a MW. It was a good evening, and good value. Total cost of flight (Halving magnum/doubling half) is around about £554

[David M. Bueker]

Flaccianello is my favorite Tuscan wine, with Cepparello not too far behind. Looks like a lovely tasting.

What do you think about the QPR, Peter?

Greetings from Sweden / Fredrik L

[David M. Bueker]

I am not Peter, but regarding my favorites, Cepparello remains reasonable QPR. It's still available for about $50-$55 with some searching. Discounts can take it under $50 if you're lucky. At that price it lines up fairly well with Felsina's Rancia bottling, which I also enjoy very much, and the Fontalloro.

Flaccianello has gotten pricier. When it was $50-$60 it was a no-brainer for world-class wine. Now that it is $80 or higher, the QPR of the other bottlings above eclipse it a bit for me. In the global scheme of things it is still a "value" for wine of that quality, but Cepparello, Fontalloro and Rancia are close enough that I will save a few bucks.

What do you think about the QPR, Peter?

Hi Fredrik

The last three wines were all over 10 years old which pushes their price up, the Sassicaia is a cult wine, nice but I wouldn't pay £210 for it.

My favourite wine was £99 a magnum, my next two joint favourites were £13.50 and £55. I'll be buying the £13.50 one.

Note for US readers when comparing prices. The price here includes wine tax (which is a fixed sum per bottle not relating to value of wine) then 20% VAT is applied to the wine value AND the wine tax (yes, the tax is taxed)

Cepparello has always been one of my favorites. It is one of the first "Super Tuscan" non-DOC proprietary wines. The first vintage was 1980, and at that time the DOCG regulations for Chianti Classico required the use of other grapes in addition to Sangiovese. Marketing a proprietary, 100% Sangiovese Tuscan wine outside the DOC regulations started a revolution that eventually led to changing the DOCG regulations to allow such wines to be labeled Chianti Classico.

-Paul W.

Tasted the 2006 at last nights Devines staff dinner, I was invited as I help with tastings. We were not impessed and I have to think it was a poor bottle? Comments I heard included " another dude...nose falls after half an hour....nose more interesting than the palate.....just a decent showing". Agh well onto the 2000 Gruaud Larose.