At the annual AmE alumni dinner.

WOW. What a charming and delicious little wine for the price! Easily accessible at ~S$70.

I’ve long held this fairly contrarian view that Tenuta San Guido’s Guidalberto is. Ehh. While commonly positioned as Sassicaia’s second wine, it absolutely isn’t. For one, they are fundamentally blends of different fruits. While the Sassicaia is a Cab Sauv + Cab Franc, the Guidalberto is a blend of Cab Sauv and Merlot. In any case, I’ve always found the latter to be clumsy and muddy.

The Le Difese is different. It’s usually around 70% Cab Sauv, 30% Sangiovese, and it’s a bright, juicy and vibrant delicious wine.

In the glass, this was a bright ruby with a distinct garnet rim. Mid body.

On the nose: it was a lot of black and red currant, and oddly what seemed like honey to me. It’s bright and lively, and was wide open with no decanting at all.

On the palate: dry with a tiny touch of residual sugar. Veeeery mild tannins, and a surprisingly long finish?

This is not a spectacular nor impressive wine per se, but it’s absolutely delicious and the perfect candidate as a large group table wine. It’s easy to prepare (no decanting), affordable, a pleasure to drink. I wonder how they softened the tannins to that extent, given both the Cab Sauv and Sangiovese. Would buy in bulk.