The Antinori Guado al Tasso estate lies within the Bolgheri DOC in upper Maremma along the Tuscan coast. Although the estate can trace its roots to the mid 1930’s, serious wine-making didn’t begin until the 1990s.
What ultimately became the estate was inherited by Piero Antinori’s Mother, Carlotta Antinori and her sister who was married to Mario Incisa Della Rocchetta. Piero received the Guado al Tasso estate while his Aunt received what would become Tenuta San Guido. Not a bad couple of gifts!
~ The vineyards are low lying, just a few hundred feet above sea level ~
The property covers 320 hectares with vineyards planted on a flat plain, just a few hundred feet above sea level. The topography forms a natural amphitheater as the vineyards are encircled by rolling hills on three sides. The Mediterranean sea sits to the West. Constant breezes from the sea provide a cooling influence while also fending off various forms of potential vine diseases.
The mineral base in the soil is interesting here. Fossilized sea matter is found throughout Maremma and Guado al Tasso is no exception. As a result, the wines from the estate display a powdery nature to their tannic structure. Small gravel dominates the top layer of the vineyards while silt and clay reside below.
~ In this image you can get a sense of the texture to the vineyard soils at Guado al Tasso ~
What started with a single wine in production has now been expanded to six. Today I’m discussing the newest wine from the estate, Cont’ Ugo and the release of the 2018.
2018 was an odd year in Tuscany but in Maremma, where the weather was cooler on average, the vintage retained a bit more normalcy. The growing season will be remembered for frequent rain showers; particularly during winter and spring. These provided much needed groundwater reserves, especially after the hot, drought conditions of 2017. As the weather warmed significantly inland, the coast remained cooler and the day-night temperature swings proved ideal for the early ripening Merlot grapes.
The 2018 Antinori Con’t Ugo is 100% Merlot. Deep purple in color, the nose of the wine exudes black fruits, toasted spice and hints of Maremma herb. On the palate, the wine is ripe, round and fruity with juicy black fruits dominating the profile at the moment. As the wine opens, hints of herb appear. Fleshy and very plush, this appears to be devoid of significant tannin, though they do appear toward the end and are laced with powdery mineral. Vinified in a combination of stainless steel and barrique, the lots are then blended and aged for 12 months in barrique and 6 months in bottle before release.
This wine is well made, broadly appealing and easily drinkable. To sum up, my wife, who poses a keen palate in terms of a wine’s quality but doesn’t necessarily identify specific aspects or traits, said to me upon her first few sips: “This is really nice, is it from Napa?” 91 points. Around $45. Find this wine.
~ The 2018 Cont’ Ugo Merlot is a forward, fruity Merlot ~
I’m noticing that the 2019 is becoming available on pre-release. With the price increasing nearer to $60, this is an easy pass at that level.
Salute!
I found it interesting to learn of the history and terroir here. I knew practically nothing about it. Great article, John.
Thanks Gordon and thanks for checking in.
“Is it from Napa?” is such an interesting comment. It speaks to Napa as a benchmark for Merlot. It might also say that the Con’t Ugo wine, while well made, doesn’t have a lot of Italian-ness to it. Which gets us quickly back to the whole never ending discussion of international grapes cultivated in and used in CC wines.
Clearly I think that’s right Steve. My wife doesn’t have much experience at all with Merlot based Bordeaux so for her, it’s definitely Napa that is the benchmark. The Antinori was lacking Tuscan typicity in my mind, though I’m not too sure what type of “Tuscan-ness” is attributed by Maremma. It seems most of the wines from there follow this profile if they are made from International grapes. The Argentiera wines are another good example. As for CC, that’s a bit of a different issue. Setriolo has 20% Merlot in their CC and many others do as well. I happen to enjoy CC with many different blends. That’s just one reason, as I’ve written many times, that keeps CC from becoming a “standardized” brand, if you will. You really need to know the wines or read people that do. Cheers!
If you think about it, the whole basis of Maremma wines is to produce Bourdeaux style wines in Italy, so you are absolutely right about a lack of Tuscan-ness. I’m not sure the winemakers in Maremma are really setting out to produce Tuscan style wines.
And as an opinion, I’m ok with international varieties in CC; There are some 100% Sangiovese wines that I’ve liked and some not so much. It’s sort of the end product that counts. But it is a never ending discussion.
Thats what it is Steve! But there are soooo many new wineries in Maremma (and „old” ones as well) that produce 100% typical „Italian wines” and don`t come even near to „Bordeaux style wines”! Italy is an endless source for great wine (and thats me living just 10 minutes away from one of the best white wine-regions in the world, the „Wachau”, the Austrian Danube-valley!) Just Toscana alone can be a life-filling project in searching for wine (my first trip to Italy was in 1971 with my parents!), not to talk about Sicily (spent 4 summers in Sicily working on my novel „Brunello, Sex & Rock n Roll” and was blown away, especially from their whites!!), Piemonte, Trentino, Veneto, Aosta & Basilicata & Molise & Liguria (who the fuck knows these???), Umbria, Südtirol, Sardinia, Latio, Friuli and so on … Salute!
You and Dietmar are both right. To me, wines like Sassicaia, Saffredi, Lupicaia and even Ornellaia all give a sense of Tuscan place. Not so much Masseto and I’m not including wines from Sangiovese like Morellino or Tassinaia. But the newer wines: Argentiera, Sapaio, Frasinello and others… I don’t sense that same essence. As another example, if you look at my interview with Giovanni Folonari, it’s clear that Il Pareto is Tuscan. It would stand out in a Napa or Bordeaux tasting as I wrote. Many of these wines I don’t think would be so clear cut. Good discussion gents!