Wine & Spirits - Winter 2016 - 78

TOP 100 WINERIES 2016

I TALY
XXXXXXXX
T USCANY

Tenuta Petrolo

Xxxxxxx
Luca Sanjust
Xxxxxx

I TALY
XXXXXXXX
T USCANY

Tenuta San Guido
Founded: 1947
Founded: XXXXLuca Sanjust and
Winemakers:
Owner/winemaker/viticulturist:
Simone Cuccoli
XXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXX
Viticulturist:
Carlo Nesterini
Acres owned: XXX
Owner:
Cases
produced:
XXXXXX
The
Bazzocchi
Sanjust
family
Estate
grown: 672;
100%76 planted
Acres owned:
Importer:
Xxxxx Xxxxx,
Xxxxx,
XX
Annual
production:
7,083
cases
Website:
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx
Estate
grown:
100%
Importer: Vintus, NY
Website: petrolo.it

Founded: 1948
Founded:
XXXX
Owner/winemaker:
Owner/winemaker/viticulturist:
Nicolò Incisa della Rochetta
XXXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXXXXXX
Viticulturists:
Nicola Politi and
Acres
owned:
XXX
Alessandro
Petri
Cases
Acres produced:
owned: 235XXXXXX
Estate
100% 80,000 cases
Annualgrown:
production:
Importer:
Xxxxx100%
Xxxxx, Xxxxx, XX
Estate grown:
Website:
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx
(70% for Le
Difese)

NicolòXxxxxxx
Incisa della
Xxxxxx
Rochetta

Importer: Kobrand, NY
Website: sassicaia.com

Petrolo capitalized on the 2013 vintage with a lush and vibrant bottling of Galatrona, its flagship wine from merlot. The estate also produced two delicious
sangiovese-based wines from the Bòggina vineyard, one aged in oak and the
other in amphorae, offering a fascinating contrast in winemaking techniques.

Tenuta San Guido produced an impressive Sassicaia in the warm 2012 vintage, and the estate's two other wines followed suit with fresh and aromatic
bottlings in 2013, landing the winery in the Top 100 for the second time in
three years.

Artist Turned Winemaker: The Bazzocchi family has owned the 672acre Petrolo estate since the 1940s. The current proprietors are Lucia
Bazzocchi Sanjust and her son, Luca, who gave up a budding career
as an artist to join the family business in 1993. He worked with consulting oenologist Giulio Gambelli to expand the estate's production beyond high-volume sangiovese-based wines, restricting yields
in search of quality and concentration. The estate's vine density is
now three or four times higher than in his grandfather's day, yet the
vines produce one-fifth the amount of wine. Tenuta Petrolo lies just
outside of the Chianti Classico zone in an area called Val d'Arno di
Sopra. In 2011, after many years of lobbying, Sanjust helped win
DOC status for the area, and most of the estate's wines now carry
that designation.

Early Years: In 1930, Mario Incisa della Rochetta married a Tuscan
heiress whose dowry included the 7,500-acre Tenuta San Guido estate
near Bolgheri. At the time, Tuscany's western coast was an undistinguished backwater on the Italian wine scene, fit only for cheap white
and rosé wines. But Incisa della Rochetta, a Bordeaux aficionado,
noted the similarity between his estate's stony soils and the gravel
plots of Bordeaux's left bank. He planted the first cabernet sauvignon in a vineyard he called Sassicaia ("stony ground") in 1944, and
for two decades produced wines solely for his personal enjoyment. It
wasn't until the 1968 vintage, with help from consulting oenologist
Giacomo Tachis, that he bottled Sassicaia for commercial release.

Pomerol on the Arno: Sanjust's admiration for the merlot-based wines
of Pomerol led him to bottle the estate's first release of Galatrona in
1994, from vines planted just four years earlier. Those
merlot vines gave a concentrated and layered Galatrona
in 2013, its flavors of plum and blackberry unfolding in
a seamless texture that's firmed by a streak of graphitelike tannins. It holds its freshness for days, an indication
of its potential to age gracefully over a decade or more.
Sangiovese Two Ways: Petrolo's oldest vineyard was
planted to sangiovese in 1952, and Sanjust selects
fruit from the central rows to make Bòggina. He
ages the wine in large oak casks, allowing it to
express 2013's freshness with juicy acidity and lush
dark cherry flavors. Since 2011, Sanjust has been
fermenting one lot of Bòggina in amphorae, keeping the wine in contact with the skins for six months
without adding sulfites. Bògginanfora feels cool and
juicy, with brighter red-cherry flavors and grittier
tannins than the regular bottling. -S.J.

TOP-SCORING WINES

The First Super Tuscan: The 1968 Sassicaia carried the simple vino da
tavola designation, since Italy's DOC regulations didn't yet recognize wines from French varieties. The wine's early success sparked
the Super-Tuscan trend and, eventually, helped earn DOC status for
Bolgheri blends. Today, under Mario's son Nicolò, the wine
remains the benchmark for Tuscan cabernet, the 2012 quietly confident in the way it carries its ripe red berry flavors
with vibrancy and freshness, and couches its finely etched
tannins in a velvet texture.
Cabernet Foundations: Cabernet sauvignon also forms
the basis for the estate's two other wines, Guidalberto
and La Difese. Guidalberto, thanks to 40 percent merlot, is approachable earlier than Sassicaia. The 2013 is
a standout: Exceptional weather before harvest, particularly the cool night breezes, created a wine with
both freshness and aromatic complexity, supple and
seamless. La Difese, blended with 30 percent sangiovese, also shows the vintage's freshness in its flavors of
cool black fruits tinged with menthol. Both wines are
immensely appealing now, to enjoy while waiting for
the 2012 Sassicaia to soften. -S.J.

TOP-SCORING WINES

XX '13
94
'XX Toscana
XxxxxxxxGalatrona
Xxxxxxx Xxxxx
$105 (4/16)
$XX (XX/XX)

XX '12
94
'XX Bolgheri
XxxxxxxxSassicaia
Xxxxxxx Xxxxx
Sassicaia
$XX $235
(XX/XX)
(4/16)

XX '13
93
'XX Val
Xxxxxxxx
d'ArnoXxxxxxx
di SopraXxxxx
Bòggina
$XX$80
(XX/XX)
(4/16)

XX '13
93
'XX Toscana
XxxxxxxxGuidalberto
Xxxxxxx Xxxxx
$54$XX
(4/16)
(XX/XX)

XX '13
91
'XX Val
Xxxxxxxx
d'ArnoXxxxxxx
di SopraXxxxx
Bògginanfora
$XX (XX/XX)
$80 (4/16)

XX '13
91
'XX Toscana
XxxxxxxxLeXxxxxxx
Difese Xxxxx
$32 (4/16)
$XX (XX/XX)

WINE & SPIRITS

BUYING GUIDE 2017

http://www.petrolo.it http://www.sassicaia.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Wine & Spirits - Winter 2016