ORNELLAIA E MASSETO, 'ORNELLAIA', BOLGHERI SUPERIORE

TUSCANY, ITALY 2016

Arguably one of the most important producers of the Tuscan revolution, Ornellaia e Masseto has turned out one of the most important labels in Italy: Ornellaia. With its reputation as a super-premium Bordeaux blend, Ornellaia exemplifies the best of Bolgheri’s terroir and has brought the wines of Maremma to international fame. Facing the Tyrrhenian Sea in the western part of Tuscany, Maremma is a region that is new and void of tradition. Without the boundaries imposed by a long winemaking history, the winemakers here are free to push the envelope and define their own winemaking style. In 1981, Lodovico Antinori founded Ornellaia and at the time, the Bolgheri appellation didn’t exist. Sparing no expense in creating a model wine estate, he hired winemaker Tibor Gal to produce their inaugural vintage. After the estate’s brief joint ownership with Mondavi, the estate is now owned in its entirety by one of the oldest winemaking families, Frescobaldi. 
 

Produced as a Margaux-style blend, the vineyard selections that make up the wine today include grapes from 100 different plots. With an extremely high vine density (around 6,500 vines per hectare), the fruit produced is dark, dense and powerful. All plots are vinified separately with selected yeast strains and fermentation takes place in a mix of stainless steel and concrete vats. Employing gentle pump overs and avoiding punch downs to achieve a delicate extraction, the wine is then fermented half in oak and matured up to 20 months in French barrique. With an impressive ability to age, today’s 2016 Ornellaia is “an astoundingly vibrant, powerful and concentrated Ornellaia that has a wealth of intense dark cherries, mulberries and plums with hints of espresso, dark cocoa powder and cedar. The concentrated palate is framed in long, regal tannins that bring focus to the plush, ripe and fresh black cherries and dark plums.” (James Suckling). As “2016 is one of the best vintages in Bolgheri” (Aldo Fiordelli, Decanter), this is a wine you’ll want to buy by the case to taste over the next 20-30 years. For one week we’re offering this wine for the best price in the county!