5 SUPER TUSCAN alternatives to SASSICAIA & ORNELLAIA

For me one that stands out in this broad category is Guado Al Tasso (Antinori) its about $133 for the 2020 where I am based (Sweden). Great wine. I’m sure you know it.

As a right bank guy I am missing one of the great Merlots from Toscana!!!

Thanks for a lovely tasting! I personally am a fan of the Camarcanda estate of Gaja. Their Magari and Promis are a great value in my opinion. Tenuta Argentiera Villa Donoratico is a bonker for its price.

Not sure if you have tried Monteverro Toscana IGT. It's an awesome Bordeaux blend that rivals a lot of the renowned Super Tuscan of similar and much higher price point.

Matthew - i live in Ohio what is the best way to locate the wines you feature or at least find a distributor for the area?

I just drank the Tenuta Belgvardo 2016 from Mazzei recently. Great wine. But compared to another and actually the first super Tuscan wine Vigorello from San felice I think Vigorello is a better buy. It's much cheaper here and in my opinion the quality is around the same.

Tenuta Argentiera only 1/3 price of sassicaia maybe ? lol

I couldn’t help but chuckle at the captions on your video replacing the word “appellation” with Appalachian”! Now I love Appalachia but not sure I would grow wine grapes in much of that part of the world! Although, I must say, Virginia in particular has some excellent wines and particularly whites.

another great video 🤓

The only problem with this video is that I immediately wanted to go out and buy some of this Tuscan pearls … lol ! Cheers !

Just get an Italian villa already and move to Tuscany. Be careful of anyone, especially a guy named Vito, offering you a “deal” on some rare wine he happened to find.

Super Tuscans are a great category and a nice twist on Right & Left Bank Bordeaux. As you mentioned the price is continually headed north, so these wines are for those with deeper pockets. I believe if you head south in Italy, like Campania, Puglia, Sicily and maybe Calabria, you can find Bordeaux blends with local varieties at much lower price points. These wines should be put away for at least 5--6 years, if not 10. IMHO, only light reds like Zweigelt, Beaujolais Villages, and similar wines can be drunk 2 or 3 years after the vintage. Great video and lots of fun. Cheers!

Can you recommend me any wines like Tenuta San Guido Guidalberto? I really enjoyed it recently

Great video, id take bordeaux over super tuscans any day but i recently tried the wines of chiappini in bolgheri and was delighted! Corzano e paterno in chianti make a wine called “il corzano” which is also lovely.

Great video, have to hunt for a couple of those that aren’t available in my country. My favourites so far as alternatives are saffredi, Mazzei Siepi and sondraia. On the cheaper end of the spectrum, Caccia al piano- Levia Gravia was good, and two cheaper Antinori buys - Cont’ugo and Il bruciato have been regulars here. Keep the Italian videos coming 😂

Great video as always! I'm a big fan of cab franc, do you have any recommendations for a high percentage or 100% cab franc from Tuscany for under or ~$50?

"Try not to become a person of success, but rather try to become a person of value." -Albert Einstein

Not sure if you've tried it but Le Pupille Maremma Toscana Saffredi is a fantastic alternative (at least for me) to some of these much more expensive wines.

In terms of Sangiovese blend with cab from Maremma I would rather recommend Avvoltore from Morisfarms: great quality for 45EUR

I drink regularly different Bordeaux blends from Bolgheri area. My absolute favourite price/quality ratio is Grattamacco (around 80 EUR today). On top of that I would recommend Ca’ Marcanda Magari (around 50EUR), Guado al Tasso (around 110EUR), Le Macchiole Bolgheri Rosso (around 25EUR). Unfortunately most of those have doubled the prices in the last 5-6 years 😞

Biserno retails for almost 200EUR, wouldn’t call it an attractive cheaper alternative, or at least not anymore

Last year I had a lot of second and third wines from the Super Tuscan producers. I focused (and maybe they focus) on blends that usually had mostly Merlot with Sangiovese. I loved them all. Allison Slute made the (really smart) argument that those are actually good values since they are comparable to second and third wines from Bordeaux. My favourite of the bunch was Tenuta Luce's 2018 Lucente, but I loved Rocca di Frassinello's 2016 Poggio Alla Guardia and Le Volte Dal'Ornellaia from 2020. Honestly, I had a lot of fun with the cheaper ones as well, as Brancaia's TRE is one of my go-to wines and San Polo's Rubio from 2018 was delicious, and I will be seeking it as the vintages come.

About Sette Ponti, I have the second and third wines available. One is Sangiovese and the other is a Bordeaux Blend, and there is a significant difference in price from one to the other. Which one should I go for?

Nice tasting as is always the case.

Love your channel. I’m very curious why you didn’t choose other Super Tuscans from the same terroir (Bolgheri) as Sassicaia and Ornellaia. Super Tuscans produced over 160km away are going to be completely different than the well known two. Bolgheri is a very special terroir that has similarities to Bordeaux.

Just curious because I Love Bolgheri wines and only live 20-25 mins from the area

Thank you, Matthew, a very interesting and exciting video! There are a lot of great value Toscana IGT wines here. I hope we will have a chance to have you taste some of Aiola new releases later this year.

I almost dont drink Super Tuscans (more so if bordeaux blends are the recipe)....in Tuscany my money goes to Chianti Classico and Brunello. One cannot go in all directions (no space nor money for such). Im happy to be offered to try but its not on my shopping list. As usual a Nice episode. Would love to see a Bairrada/Baga tasting vídeo.

Great video Matthew thanks for the recommendations and I picked up a few more in the comments.

The Villa Donoratico (Tenuta Argentiera) is excellent value for money. Other affordable 'Super Tuscans' are Terra di Monteverro, Camalaione (Podere Le Cinciole), Orma (Podero Orma) and Concerto di Fonterutoli. It would be interesting tot do a video about Morellino di Scansano: an underrated appellation.

Capaccia the best one ever! Thanks Mat!!

Super epizod Matthew 👍. Wines from Michele Satta (Piastraia, Cavaliere and I Castagni) were super and from Podere Sapaio were also really good. Most recently, I really enjoy Poggio al Tesoro´s Il Seggio. Verry affordable in EU.

Enjoy your shows Doc. How about the Chiappini range and esp Guado Di Gemoli. And the top with from Tenuta Argentiera as well

Hey Dr Matthew, would you go for a Cervaro della Sala 2019 or Gaja Ca Marcanda Promis 2021?

Great stuff, I really like Luce. That's one of my very favorite on that region. What do you think about that particular one ?

I agree with you, the best super tuscans to me are the ones with sangiovese added.... Mmm, delicious. Great vid.

I have a few bottles of the 2018 Oreno. I'm looking forward to pulling a cork pretty soon. Enjoyed the video, I'll for a couple of these.

I tell you what Dr. H .... I've had so much red wine for the past 6 months I'm ready for a white wine kick. I still have 20+ bottles of all red wine I need to work through. But a punch-in-the-face blend or malbec would be a nice change in constant stream of Cab and Merlot. My dad went kinda nuts with the wine "deals". 😅

Great wines! Prices are about 30% more here so out of my price range but great reviews.Those grapes seem to have that edge that they do not in France, being acidity, tannins or minerality.

Sondraia is great. Also Prima Pietra by Castiglion del Bosco is a great affordable option!

The Cappaccio sounds delicious.
Can’t get many Supers here in Australia unfortunately.

What about Saffredi and Orma?

this to me is one of the most important segments youve ever done.SASSICAIA AND ORNELLIA are so fabulous its hard to find anything remotely close to them . The ORMA toscana is close and a great value.Will try the others now

Yep, all very expensive for what you get. Seriously, it's far too expensive. I've recently started buying Italian wine from a small shop in South Wales owned by a Master of Wine that specialises in Italian wine. His recommendations have been a revelation and I've tasted great wine from all over the country at great value.

The 2nd wine of Tenuta San Guido, Guidalberto, is a fantastic value at around $50 and is much more approachable in its youth than its older brother Sassicaia.

I’m also a big fan of Ornellaia’s Le Volte as a reliable crowd-pleasing wine and I feel it far outperforms its $25 price tag. I’ve yet to try the other bottling of Ornellaia called Le Serre Nuove since I haven’t seen it in any stores, but I hear it’s great too and a step above Le Volte.

Bordeaux blends definitely taste different in Tuscany. I think in part it’s the ripeness in Tuscany, plus the rustic edge on these wines from the “garrigue” like notes (rosemary, thyme, oregano). I was surprised that Oreno scored lowest here, did it get some breathing time? Just too young probably.
Orma is a great alternatieve, but you have discussed it before 😄

Caiarossa is great!

Hey Matthew, I love the Italian videos. The most exciting videos are where you have the most personal passion.

Sondraia by Poggio al Tesoro (Allegrini from Veneto went to Tuscany to make these wines) is my favorite. I think they use new American oak so it is a big wine but a lot of depth as well. Il Seggio is Sondraia’s little brother and is fantastic as well. Their first wine is 100% cab franc and is called Dedicato a Walter. I had it once but it was passed its peak

What a fantastic video concept. Maybe do one for alternatives to white burgundy!

Interesting video! I do think though that in that price range you get much better wine from Bordeaux. For 100€ you can get a Pontet Canet, for 80€ you can get Domaine du Chevalier, and for only 30€ you can get Meyney, Poujeaux or Cantemerle, wines that give the Super Tuscans hard competition

I usually only pick up soy sauce after quite a bit of age. Pretty weird to see it so early on.

Interesting to learn about Super Tuscan wine. Way out of my price range though. Thanks!