Consider this the hallmark of this style. Incredibly intense fruit character. A thick and powerful, full-bodied wine, with a bounty of pepper and berry flavors, full tannins and a long-lasting finish.--Super Tuscan blind retrospective. Best after 1998.

The brute power of the '88 brings to mind Château Latour in top vintages. Full-bodied, it's firm and rock-solid yet tastes very silky thanks to sensational concentration of fruit. Loads of minerally, peppery character and blackberry and red berry flavors. Supercharged, intense, long finish.--Sassicaia vertical. Best after 2002. (PM)

Just a bit lighter and less intense than the otherworldy 1985, here you find a multi-layered, voluptuously textured wine showing off its tobacco, pepper, sweet, fresh, juicy, cherry and licorice notes at every twist and turn. This is drinking just great today. Tasted Nov 11, 2020

Jewel-red, waves of cured leather, olive paste, undergrowth, rich peaty aromatics, coffee grounds, cedar, this has campfire smoke and crushed rose petals set against luscious grilled red cherry fruits, laced with fennel and a softly enticing tannic architecture that is lace-fine. Seems almost younger than the last time I tasted it in Rome way back in 2016. Today it is impossible to put down, with a freshness and upward lift that stretches out through the palate, carrying you with it, still very much full of life. 40% new oak for ageing, Giacomo Tachis winemaker.

The 1988 Sassicaia retains its spellbinding bouquet; pure black plum, tobacco, melted tar and liquorices, demonstrating thrilling definition and life-affirming vigour. The palate is medium-bodied with a beguiling sense of symmetry: perfect balance between austerity and Tuscan voluptuousness, yet the complement each other rather than cancelling each other out. Crushed stones, a touch of black pepper, burnt toast, very fresh on the Graves-like finish, this is Sassicaia in excelsis. Tasted February 2010.

This firmly structured, medium weight, restrained example of Sassicaia exhibits an impressive deep, dark ruby color, and a perfumed, super-ripe nose of black fruits and toasty vanillin from aging in new oak casks. In the mouth there is excellent concentration, crisp acidity, and plenty of tannin, glycerin, and alcohol in the admirable finish. Though it is neither as multi-dimensional nor concentrated as the other-worldly 1985, nor as opulent as the 1982, it is, nevertheless, another brilliant example of what heights Cabernet Sauvignon can achieve in the soils of Tuscany. Importer: Kobrand, Inc., New York, NY.

The 1988 Sassicaia is among the most interesting wines made in this decade, although it does not surpass the high-performing 1986, 1985, 1984 and 1982 editions. The bouquet opens to savory tones of barbecue smoke and mesquite wood with cured meat, beef jerky and even a touch of white chocolate. The oak element is evident and has never fully integrated, despite the many years of beauty rest this wine has accrued in the sleepy cellars of Tenuta San Guido. Those exotic hickory or cedar wood characteristics give this wine unique definition. This was a very hot vintage and you can feel the weight of that ripe fruit. I have shortened the drinking window accordingly.

Very dark and glowing ruby. Very ripe and assertive and almost right bank-like. Hint of meat extract. Sweet start and very lively – very marked acidity in fact. Racy and sweet and yet with real distinction and wonderful juiciness. Not too hot on the end. Really on the cusp of ancient and modern styles.
JR - March 2010