1996 Sassicaia

This is the estate that started it all on the coast, but things have been far less satisfactory in the 1990s. The last fully convincing Sassicaia, in fact, was the 1988. The 1990 was good, but not good enough in the context of an outstanding vintage. There have been some pleasant wines since then but nothing memorable. What's the problem? One factor is surely the substantial new acreage that was planted in the late '80s and early '90s; fruit from these new vines is now used for Sassicaia. Nicolo Incisa defends the practice of including the young vines as giving an "honest" picture of the level of the vintage, but if he's right, then everyone in Bordeaux, where very young vines are rigorously declassified into the second wine, is wrong.