2023 Tenuta San Guido "Guidalberto" Toscana
Insider's Advantage
96DC
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92-94JD
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96
Decanter
Reviewed June 2025Super-fresh with balsamic herb, blueberry and floral aromatics, Guidalberto 2023 has blossomed into a grand vin all of its own. Invigorating cool forest berry flavours mingle with touches of spice and fine, silky tannins. So poised. Wow!
Professional Reviews
96
James Suckling
This vintage shows a remarkable aromatic profile of Mediterranean herbs, cassis, black cherries, leather and earth with a kind of gamey depth. Full-bodied, it shows velvety, slightly sandy tannins with a firm structure, refreshing integrated acidity and a savory cedar finish.
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2023 Guidalberto was tasted as a preview and was a preliminary blend of barrel samples prepared for this tasting by the winery team, led by Carlo Paoli. The second sample that was blended was pure and ripe, with detailed layers of youthful cherry liqueur, fresh herbs, and lavender perfume. The palate offers medium to full-bodied richness, with a supple and primary feel, though it starts to reveal its underlying refined structure. While this was an early preliminary look at what the wine could look like, I’m looking forward to next year’s tasting to see how it develops. (AF)
93
Wine Advocate
The Tenuta San Guido 2023 Guidalberto comes from a challenging vintage, shaped by heat and rain that brought pressure from downy mildew, particularly affecting early-ripening Merlot. Big efforts were made during selection. Aromatically plump and expressive, the wine shows ripe cherry and blackberry preserves layered over a medium- to full-bodied mouthfeel, with primary fruit rounded by sweet notes of cinnamon. Despite the difficulties of the year, there is appealing freshness on the palate with hints of orange peel and blood orange that lift the fruit, giving the wine energy and balance. (ML)
Staff Reviews
OC
Review Date: 02/2026
I have always argued that Guidalberto is the most misunderstood wine in Bolgheri. Too often dismissed as just "Baby Sassicaia," it is actually a distinct, serious wine with its own identity—and in a vintage like 2023 is where I find it more interesting.
While the 2022s were about solar power and flesh, the 2023 vintage marks a return to a more "classic" style of Bolgheri: defined by tension, aromatics, and lift. This is where the Merlot (40%) in the blend really does the heavy lifting, providing a lush, velvety mid-palate that perfectly counterbalances the vertical, graphite-driven spine of the Cabernet Sauvignon (60%).
On the nose, you get that signature San Guido balsamic note: It smells "cool" and sophisticated this year.
On the palate, the wine has a vibrating energy. It is medium-bodied and sleek, avoiding the heavy extraction that plagues so many other wines from the coast. If you love the elegance of Sassicaia but want something you can actually drink on a Tuesday night, this is the benchmark. And this vintage might make happy also the Piedmontese drinkers
AH
Aaron Hughes
Review Date: 05/2026Aaron Hughes
There's such a graceful elegance to this wine, a kind of subtleness that makes me tilt my head like a curious dog, because subtlety and nuance are my key hallmarks for true luxury. There's really soft but clean fruit on the nose, cherry, ripe raspberry, some plum skin, and an oaken roundness tying everything together and sanding off any sharp edges. The palate has a bit higher acidity than I expected, but it's so welcome, it makes the fruit a bit higher in tone, brighter cherry, riper raspberry, but there's still this understated elegance and harmony that's just really lovely. The tannins are really soft and super well integrated, this might be the best vintage of this wine that I've tried.
Notes
Tenuta San Guido’s 2023 “Guidalberto” Toscana is a refined and expressive Super Tuscan, blending Cabernet Sauvignon with Merlot to showcase elegance, balance, and coastal vibrancy. The nose opens with aromas of blackberry, plum, and wild cherry, layered with notes of violet, cedar, and sweet spice. On the palate, it’s medium to full-bodied, with polished tannins and fresh acidity framing dark fruit, herbal undertones, and mineral tension. The finish is long and graceful, with lingering notes of graphite, tobacco, and red berries. A stylish and approachable wine from the iconic Sassicaia estate.
Details
| Origin | Super Tuscan, Tuscany, Italy |
|---|---|
| Type/Varietal | Cabernet Sauvignon and Blends |
| Alcohol Content | 12.5% |
| SKU | 1879767 |