Antinori Guado al Tasso 2009

Following on from our sell-out 2010 Guado al Tasso offer, we were delighted to source a parcel of the superb 2009 that we can offer 20% below the lowest listed UK price. In fact the 2009 scored an incredible 97 points from James Suckling and is, in his opinion, the best Guado al Tasso ever made. Guado al Tasso 2009 is priced at £300 a six pack in the UK and as such our price of £240 represents incredible value: £40 a bottle for a truly great wine is wonderful value for money.

Suckling scores the 2009 97 points, Galloni 94 and The Wine Enthusiast an incredible 98 points. However, the scores in 2010 are almost the mirror opposite; Galloni awarded Guado al Tasso 97 points, Suckling 95 and The Wine Enthusiast 94. The reason for this is a question of taste: the 2010 vintage presents a wonderful freshness balanced with power, while the 2009 vintage has incredibly fine tannin, succulent fruit and is aromatically delightful with vibrant flavours on the palate. The vintage in 2009 experienced record rainfall in the winter, followed by an incredibly hot summer, yet with cool nights that helped retain the superb aromatic qualities. 2009 and 2010 are wonderful vintages, different in style, both wonderful, which makes them interesting to compare. The 2009s, like the 2010s will age and improve for decades and Guado al Tasso made one of the wines of the vintage, perhaps the best in terms of price versus score.

*6x75cl case prices

Guado al Tasso is the prestigious flagship Bordeaux blend wine from Piero Antinori. It forms one third of his trinity of great wines Tignanello, Solaia and Guado al Tasso, which have cemented Piero as the best-known name in Italian winemaking. In fact, James Suckling has gone on record saying that Piero ‘For me is the greatest winemaker in Italy, without Piero there would be no history of great winemaking in Italy’.

Guado al Tasso unlike Tignanello and Solaia – which are located in Chianti Classico – is the family’s sprawling property located in the heartland of Super Tuscan coastal region of Bolgheri, a few minutes south of Sassicaia and Ornellaia. As such it has a wonderful climatic combination, benefiting from the coastal breeze of the Tyrrhenian Sea, vineyard elevation and the interior hills. Interestingly, Guado al Tasso takes its name from the badgers (tassi) that regularly cross the steams on the property; truly heart-warming.

Initially the blend included a little Syrah; however nowadays it has morphed into a true Bordeaux blend of 55% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot and 15% Cabernet Franc, although this varied slightly in 2009. Stylistically, Guado al Tasso straddles Solaia/Tignanello and the properties belonging to the other side of the Antinori family, Ornellaia and Masseto: a master class in winemaking. Like its siblings Solaia and Tignanello, all variatels are vinified separately and macerated in stainless steel tanks for 12-14 days then aged for 14 months in new French oak barriques. Guado al Tasso fully expresses the Bolgheri terrior, fashioned with a defined structure, sublime complexity and elegance, yet rich and spicy.

The 2009 Guado al Tasso ticks all of the boxes; it offers incredible value for money, made by perhaps the greatest estate in Italy and we are offering it today at a large market discount. We shared a double magnum of the 1998 on Christmas day last year which had taken on intense flavours of coffee, chocolate, blackberries, cedar and porcini mushroom, a wine that scored 92 points. The 97 scoring 2009 will surpass this and due to the incredible fruit and tannin ripeness of the vintage, it is entering its drinking window this year!

Antinori Guado al Tasso 2009 £240 – 6×75 IB or £302.76 incl. duty and VAT 
James Suckling – 97 points
Best Guado al Tasso ever. Wonderful nose of crushed blackberries and cherries with hints of dark chocolate. Full-bodied, with soft and round tannins and a long, long finish. It goes on for minutes. Now just a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc. Better after 2015.

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