Not many wines ascend to the status of ‘icon’. But Sassicaia is one of them. The beauty is that it’s not a flashy wine – quite the opposite (‘old school’ might be a more appropriate description). What’s more, its ascent to the wine stratosphere is largely accidental – this scented, elegant Bordeaux blend from Bolgheri in coastal Tuscany was only ever intended as a quaffing wine for friends and family on the Tenuta San Guido estate, a farm initially dedicated to breeding horses, growing crops and a wildlife reserve.

How times change.

In this episode, we peek behind the scenes of Sassicaia, asking what really makes this fine wine tick, talking to the key people, tasting the top vintages, busting myths and asking the difficult questions.

Price is one – it’s gone up significantly of late. Fraud is another – Italian police recently broke up a gang running a fake Sassicaia operation to the tune of €2m.

Priscilla Inchisa della Rochetta, Brett Flemming and Nicolas Clerc MS shed light on all these issues and more.

Along the way, we recommend our all-time favourite Sassicaia vintages, and touch on things like the ‘secret’ Sassicaia, The Divine Comedy, sommeliers kissing each other, Desperate Dan, World Cup penalties, Italian stallions and lobster pie.

Wines featured in this episode

Sassicaia 2021, Bolgheri Sassicaia, 14%
Sassicaia 2019, Bolgheri Sassicaia, 14%
Sassicaia 2015, Bolgheri Sassicaia, 14%
Sassicaia 2011, Bolgheri Sassicaia, 14% – en magnum
Sassicaia 2010, Bolgheri Sasicaia – en magnum
Sassicaia 1998, Bolgheri Sassicaia, 14%
Sassicaia 1996, Bolgheri Sassicaia – en magnum