The 'Super Tuscan' wine phenomenon has given us a wine that is completely out of character for Tuscany and yet highly successful. So much at variance with the traditional blending laws for the region that it originally could only be labled as basic table wine. The typical Chianti label for example, which not long ago was synonymous with 'plonk', was made from a blend of grapes with Sangiovese as the dominant variety. Super Tuscans often used other varieties, especially French, making them inelegible for DOCG classification under the traditional rules.

As the story goes, a man by the name of Marquis Mario Incisa della Rocchetta, on his estate on the Tuscan coast called Tenuto San Guido produced a wine largely consisting of Cabernet Sauvignon. This wine was called Sassicaia and until 1960 was only drunk on the estate.  Starting in 1965 the Marquis planted two more vineyards with Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc. This new 'Sassicaia' vineyard was situated about 250m below the original Cabernet vineyard near Castiglioncello, the other was slightly more elevated and more exposed to the weather. Eventually, all of the wine produced on the estate came to be known by the name of Sasscaia and the 1968 vintage was the first to be offered on the open market.

The location of the San Guido vineyards was also quite a surprise being located on the Maremma coast. Tenuta Dell'Ornellaia is another Super Tuscan vineyard located in the same area.  It was founded by Lodovico Antinori and was planted with Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc, as well as Merlot and Sauvignon Blanc producing its first vintage in 1985.