Product Description
A BENCHMARK OF QUALITY AT AN AFFORDABLE PRICE
“It’s that time of year again when we get our allocation of the new vintage of ‘Le Difese’ from Tenuta San Guido, which just received 90 points from Wine Spectator! Six years ago, The Wine House introduced Le Difese into California and it has been a massive hit. We called it ‘Baby Sassicaia’ – it’s a more accessible and affordable wine from the famous estate. It sold out within hours of our first email offer and we couldn’t get our hands on enough bottles to satisfy the demand. Over time, Le Difese has become our best-selling Super Tuscan. Year after year this wine sells out and with good reason – it’s an attractive and aromatic wine with great structure and very drinkable in its youth. This fantastic Super Tuscan from a benchmark producer!” – Jim Knight, The Wine House (6/30/17)
FROM THE WINERY
Appellation: Toscana Indicazione Geografica Tipica
First Vintage: 2002
Grape Blend: 70 % Cabernet Sauvignon 30 % Sangiovese
Soil composition: Soils have different morphological characteristics with a high incidence of limestone areas rich in clay and stones; they are situated between 100 and 400 meters above the sea level facing South / South-West
Training method: Cordon spur
Planting density: 5.500 to 6.250 vine stocks per hectare
Climate: A very good vintage that influenced in a very positive way the wines of 2015. After a mild and rainy winter, the vegetative start was in the second week of April with the arrival of spring and higher temperatures. The spring rains helped a lot the vegetation and ensured the water supply for the following summer. The excellent flowering ended in late May, and the perfect setting favored by a good climate. In June and mid-July temperatures were above the seasonal average, but by the end of July the temperatures got lowered returning to the average thanks to a long rainy day, really good for the vines. Rains helped a lot avoiding any physiological stress for the vines and helping growing the grapes favoring veraison. The good temperature range between day and night that occurred from late August helped an optimal phenolic ripeness of the grapes. Grapes were with an excellent quality with a perfect ripeness, pretty cool and crisp. The great structure combined with elegant and soft tannins is the main element of this vintage.
Harvest: The harvest, strictly manual, began in late September with Cabernet Sauvignon and finished in October with Sangiovese. Healthy and perfectly ripe grapes.
