I have had a long time appreciation for Sassicaia. Seven years ago, I arranged
a vertical tasting of eleven vintages, and I wanted to repeat the event to see
how the wines had matured, and to see how the newer vintages compared with the
old ones, so I set up a 14 vintage vertical to survey the wines.

In my experience, there is no substitute for being able to taste the wines
together at the same time, in order to form a sense of what the wine is all
about. There are always differences attributable to the vintages, but there are
commonalties you can see that are at the root of what the wines are. Once you
have gone through this process, you can say that you really know something
about the wine - it is totally different from trying to form an opinion based
on one vintage you tasted last month, another a year ago, a third tonight.

All of these wines were sourced from my cellar, where they had resided since
release, except for the 81, which came from a cooler cellar, the better to
ensure it was still in good shape, and the 1996 and 1997, one of which flew in
for the event from Toronto with its owner.

If you visit the website for Sassicaia, you will get a slightly Bowdlerised
version of the history of the wine. There is no mention anywhere of Giacomo
Tachis, the winemaker from the first commercial vintage in 1968 until the early
1990s, and the story of the carefully planned viticultural journey from
planting specific varietals to winemaking techniques would indeed seem quite
odd to Tachis, who relates a somewhat different tale.

The vineyards at Bolgheri were planted in the usual hit and miss fashion, with
cabernet sauvignon, cabernet franc, cannaiolo and sangiovese intermixed. The
latter two were eliminated early on (the wine is now 10-15% cab franc, the rest
cab sauvignon), and the first vintage was 1968. If you read the material on the
site, you'd believe this debut was carefully planned - if you listen to Tachis,
who made the wine, it was a combination of wine salvaged from casks of 1965,
1966, 1967, and mostly 1968, blended and issued as a single vintage, the
balance discarded.

By the 70s, they had sorted the vineyards out and refined the winemaking
technique to the extent that they merited the reputation as the first and
perhaps most reliable 'Super-Tuscan', a wine made from varietals not allowed by
the DOC rules of the region, and thus (until it was awarded a DOC designation
for 1994, the first single wine DOC) it was sold as a vino da tavola.

That this wine is remarkably reliable even in weak vintages, a testament to
technique as much as terroir was amply demonstrated in our tasting, which
spanned three decades, from 1979 to 1997.

Here are the notes:

1991 - I started with this wine as I predicted that it would be the weakest of
the modern vintages. We drank it while I talked a bit about the tasting and the
wines. The best part was the nose, for the wine was a bit tannic and tart, and
the lean profile was acceptable only when taken with food. Definitely the
weakest wine there, and in comparison to the 1991 Tignanello that I opened for
lunch the next day, a less satisfying experience (probably the only vintage I
can think of where the Tig out-shone the Sassicaia).

1980 - a decent mature nose, nice weight in the mouth, soft and ready, with a
nice reprise of fruit right at the end. Perhaps the only wine detectably on the
'other side of the hill'. It faded in the glass, but was presentable at the
beginning.

1986 - much riper fruit in the nose of this wine, and weightier in the mouth,
with the tannins of the vintage finally softened to allow it to be enjoyed.

We had lamb carpaccio with Reggiano, capers, and extra virgin oil from
Sassicaia that I had picked up on a trip to Italy a few years ago with this
flight.


1979 - this wine has never received much respect from the reviewers, nor the
winemaker, but when we tasted it seven years ago, it showed beautifully and was
one of the favourite wines. It started off poorly, though it had good colour,
and I was at first disappointed with the wine, as it seemed too acidic and
closed. Then it started to open and showed some cocoa/mocha in the nose, with
good sweetness on palate. Not as good as it was in the first tasting, but
nonetheless still enjoyable now.


1989 - tough year for the region, but this wine wasn't shabby at all - a
bigger, riper more fruit driven nose, and a good tannin to fruit balance. Best
wine so far.

Served with pan seared sweetbreads with spiced lentils, 'candied' prosciutto
and truffle sauce.


1982 - a really attractive mocha and cassis nose, smooth, balanced, long and
sweet. This wine had the sweetest fruit so far, and was the first one that had
a level of terminal acidity and structure that would allow it to masquerade as
a Bordeaux in a blind tasting. It was also the favourite wine of the night for
a couple of people. Lovely!

1983 - the nose on this one was a bit reticent and took longer to open up, but
eventually showed as a bit riper, perhaps even better balanced than the 82. An
elegant wine.

Served with rabbit loin stuffed with it's own liver, sweet potato roesti and
Port reduction.

1981 - good colour, a nice high-toned nose of cocoa and fruit, excellent sweet
fruit on palate, not too much acidity, and very much like a Bordeaux. This was
the last one I was worried about being in good shape, and I gave a figurative
sigh of relief once we reached this point, as all the rest were sure to be
good.

1990 - this wine was very good - sweet currant and vanilla in the nose, very
full in the mouth, good concentration and sweet fruit like the 82, and the more
typical slightly high terminal acidiy. Will last for years, but drinks very
well now. I cannot recall why I didn't buy more of this vintage!

Served with a wild mushroom ragout with roasted garlic on a brioche.

1985 - this flight were the big guns - this wine is a Parker 100, and it is
really amazing. Very dark; even more so than the already quite dark wines that
preceded it. The nose was a wonderful, luscious black currant extravaganza
topped off with cedar and a little tar. In the mouth, it had a creamy smooth
feel, and the fruit was exemplary with layers of subtlety. The tannins are
soft, the acid lively, and the wine has many years to go yet. It is a truly
great wine, and when I see reports that some people think it to be over the
hill, I have to attribute it to poor storage or lack of tasting experience. It
is magnificent, but having said that, it is also a bit of a blonde among a
family of brunettes - all of the previous wines were clearly identifiable as
cut from the same cloth, while this one was qualitatively different, a more
international style of wine with less regional typicity.


1988 - it is always a bit unfair to compare wines as good as these, but either
would overwhelm any of the other vintages, so I elected to taste them against
each other. In fact while we tried many of the pairings at the beginning of the
courses, together, we most often drank one wine, then moved on to the next, as
this method allows the best opportunity to savour the merits of each wine. The
1988 had a rich nose, and was forward and ready, sweet in the mouth, with great
length. One to drink while waiting for the 85 to develop.

Served with Tournedos Rossini on scalloped potatoes.

1995 - I elected to serve the last 3 vintages from the 90s together with
cheese, which included the often dreaded Vacherin de Mont d'Or, this one at a
perfect stage of ripeness, and therefor approachable with pleasure. Dark, with
a sweet oak/cassis/anise nose. An unusually sweet entry followed by a well
structured forward and drinkable wine with quite a few years of potential
ageing ahead.

1996 - a similar sweet profile, bright, with the most tannins of the three, and
with the nicest nose, I thought. I have a concern about the level of fruit in
proportion to tannin, but trust that it will all sort out in a few years.

1997 - a good nose in the same style, a bit more terminal acidity, good
structure and fruit, but not as fresh as the 1995.

While we could see the family resemblance of this trio to the previous wines,
they did seem to be cut from a different template, more fruit and sweeter, and
the tannins not as tight as the others were at that age. This is nothing new -
many areas went through a revolution in winemaking at the end of the 80s and
beginning of the 90s, and added to this is the fact that Tachis, who made all
of the other wines, was replaced by a new winemaker for these vintages. It will
take a taster with either more experience, or a better crystal ball than I
possess to predict whether these wines will fit easily into the traditional
Sassicaia lineage, or if they represent a departure in a new direction for the
winery.

At the end of the event there was demand made to repeat this tasting again in
another 5-7 years. Some of the older wines would by then be beyond their
drinking plateau, but new vintages could be added to extend the vertical
forward, and perhaps the correct place for the 90s wines could then be more
accurately assessed. I had five people from the original 1997 event at this
tasting. Maybe we should get together again in 2008 or so to repeat the
experience.