Italy

Ornellaia

Ornellaia Masseto Toscana IGT

Tuscany

Toscana

Concentrated but tender, opulent and silky, with depth and freshness to the blueberry and raspberry fruits, all laid over with espresso and saffron notes. I love the elegance of this wine, and it really leapt out of the glass once we tasted it again over lunch. Sculpted and attractive, this vintage showcases Masseto as a great European wine, with all the nuance and beauty that entails. Not as concentrated as some years but fragrant, enticing and incredibly moreish, showing the benefit of old vines. 100% new oak.

Inside Bordeaux

Intense medium to full intensity in colour, reflective of small berries even with very careful fermentation with low extraction and shorter extraction down to 25 days. Intense, cocoa bean, liquorice, black chocolate, plum, black truffle, extremely salty, this is salted caramel providing relief and texture to the lush density of the fruits, this was Marco Balsimelli first blend and overseeing the end of ageing, arrived September 2023. 90% new barrels. Masseto is one of those terroirs (like Troplong, Las Cases) where the terroir has such a strong personality, that the impact of the winemaker is limited at the end of the day. Here, they slightly bring harvest earlier but still naturally very rich grapes. This is an impressive wine because it is naturally powerful, and you can feel rooted to the spot through the palate here, but if you take a bit of time to sit with it, you find the elegance and the grace. This will be a September release.

Concentrated grapes in a hot vintage means expect this to be a rich, concentrated Masseto, exuberant with luxurious tannins. Beautiful depth on the aromatics from the first moment, with rich fruit flavours that flood the palate, tons of liquorice, olive pit, chocolate shavings, cocoa bean, rosemary, freshly cut herbs, underbrush, opulent and powerful, flash of heat that subsides after a moment but is evident on the opening. Marco Balsimelli winemaker, Marchesi Frescobaldi owners. 11ha vineyard, 24 months ageing in barrel then 12 months in bottle before release, 100% new oak. Back to 100% Merlot in this vintage.

The 2020 Masseto, 85% Merlot and 15% Cabernet Franc, is medium to deep garnet-purple in color. It slowly emerges from the glass with notes of plum preserves, blueberry compote, and chocolate-covered cherries, leading to a gorgeous perfume of star anise, lilacs, mocha, and tar. The palate is full-bodied and super-concentrated, with layer upon layer of black fruit preserves and savory accents, framed by wonderfully ripe, rounded tannins and beautifully knit acidity, finishing very long and opulent. This is classic Masseto!

by Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW

Cocoa bean, cocoa powder, blueberry and red cherry fruits, set against gentle grilled aromatics of cold ash and gunsmoke. This grips on tightly through the palate and has a sappy character to the tannins. The 2014 vintage saw a cool and rainy August then a long, slow harvest through to October 9 under largely sunny skies that allowed for full ripening, and this is a lovely, sculpted Masseto packed with Mediterranean spice, sage and olive pit. 100% new oak.

An extremely hot and early year, giving a strong contrast with the 2014. Immediately exuberant on the nose, with cinammon spice, rosemary herbs, cocoa beans and Autumnal leaf aromatics. The tannins that are less generous than in some vintages, and it significantly improves with time in the glass, when the depth of texture and expression in the black cherry and cassis fruits become clear. An early harvest, with the fruit brought in over just three days at the end of August, this is concentrated and still taut at 10 years old. 100% new oak.

Another Mediterranean vintage with a hot summer, but the harvest was later than in the 2011, and there is more balance and opulence. The aromatics are standout, with curls of woodsmoke offsetting the powerful hug of tannins and fruit. Still young, but the evolution is becoming evident, as the structure begins to soften up. You feel the opulence and the richness of the vintage and the charater of Merlot on this site. Campfire, balsamic, liquroice, cocoa beans, turmeric, and a vintage where it is so enjoyable to explore the different spices that are drawn out of Merlot in Bolgheri compared to Pomerol. 100% new oak.

An extremely dry year with almost no rain at all - just 4mm from mid-April to mid-September. Temperatures were not excessively high, but this still mean ripening took a long time - even more so because they waited for sudden storms in September to pass before harvesting. This gives a rich opulent character to the wine, set against black pepper and cinammon spices, and a touch of welcome bitterness to the tannins on the finish that tames the creamy, generous fruits. At 15 years old, you can start to really see the classicism and grace of Masseto that is overtaken when young by the flamboyant density of the fruit. Here touches of undergrowth and dried herbs come in, and the gentle acidities give a welcome balance to the spice. 100% new oak.

This is such an enticing wine, shot through with black truffle, raspberry puree, tender tannins, with caressing waves of woodsmoke and violet. So good to drink now, this is one of my favourite of the lineup, elegant, nuanced, with a similar feel to the 2001 and 2018. This was Axel Heinz's first vintage, and one of his first decisions was to pick the best plots almost two weeks later than had been typical, right through to September 30. 100% new oak.

A challenging vintage that started well but from August 10 was impacted by rain. At almost 20 years old, this majors on white truffle, spice, balsamic and cassis liqueur. Still delivering pleasure, tertiary character with raspberry, wild strawberry, oyster shell and cold ash aromatics, smoked earth and softened tannins. This is ready to drink and to enjoy over the next five to 10 years. 100% new oak, but for six months less than the usual 24 to ensure it remained balanced.

Clearly shows the ageing capacity of Masseo, as well as the sheer pleasure to be found. So easy to love, brambled, generous, earthy, concentrated, fleshy raspberry and blackberry fruits without excess. Oyster shell and gunsmoke, softening to still-warm embers. Just delicious. This is the moment to share this wine. When you go back to it after an hour in the glass, its nuances are even more evident. Long harvest spread over four weeks, 100% new oak ageing.

A moment when people sat up and took notice of Masseto, and saw its personality was clearly different from the rest of Tuscany. Graphite, intense spice, red pepper, black olives and chocolate shavings, velvety tannins still with clear density at 23 years old. A brilliant choice for drinking now. This was a dry summer, with a cool harvest that meant Sangiovese in the rest of Tuscany struggled with full ripeness, but on Masseto's site, and with the Merlot grape, they were able to achieve this rich fruit character. A point of reference for the estate, and a real privilege to taste at this point. 100% new oak.

One of the latest harvests at Masseto, still fresh, classic and balanced with older Merlot fruit character of wild strawerry and brambled autumnal blackberry. Waves of fragrant aromatics of tobacco leaf, truffle, violet, smoked earth, peat, tar and soy. Ready to drink, beginning to soften around the edges, 100% new oak.

A lovely expression of fully mature, 26 year old Merlot, where black truffles abound. The first vintage of Masseto was in 1987, so at this point the vines were just over 10 years old. The tannins are gentle, with density through the mid palate but set against softened stewed blackberry and raspberry fruit, touches of balsamic and soy. Campfire smoke on the finish, this is ready to drink, and is very much in its tertiary phase. The winemaking at the time was more inspired by Bordeaux than it is today (meaning higher temperature and more charged extraction, among other details), so this really is a fascinating wine in the vertical to understand how the personality has changed. 100% new oak.

2022	No priceNot available	Extraordinary
2021	No priceNot available	Outstanding
2020	No priceNot available	Extraordinary
2018	No priceNot available	Extraordinary
2014	No priceNot available	Outstanding

Category	Red wine
Vinmonopolet no.
Producer	Ornellaia
Vintages	2018
Country	Italy, Tuscany, Toscana
Bottle	75 cl

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Sugar	g/l

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