2018 Ornellaia
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Tasting notes
The 2018 Ornellaia is mostly Merlot but includes a solid amount of Cabernet Sauvignon and tiny amounts of Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot. It's a gorgeous wine that takes air to show at its best (and deserves bottle age), giving up a terrific array of red and black currants, cedar pencil, tobacco, iron, and savory herbs. These carry to a medium to full-bodied, concentrated, incredibly well-balanced red that has building, ripe, polished tannins, perfectly integrated acidity, a great mid-palate, and one heck of a finish. While not a blockbuster in the exuberant, extroverted sense of the word, it has incredible intensity and depth, and this is a gem of a wine. It needs another 5-7 years to hit maturity and, I suspect, will evolve for 30-40 years.
Critic scores
Average Score
Jancis Robinson MW
Antonio Galloni, Vinous
More reviews and scores
Each grape variety and vineyard block were vinified separately. Fermentation in stainless-steel and concrete tanks, followed by maceration for about 15 days, for a total time in the vat of about three weeks. The malolactic fermentation took place mainly in oak barrels, 70% new and 30% second-use. The wine then remained in barriques in Ornellaia’s temperature-controlled cellars for about 18 months. After the first 12 months of maturation, the wine was assembled and then returned to the barriques for an additional 6 months. After bottling, the wine aged a further 12 months before release. Deep glowing crimson. Restrained nose – more so that the Serre Nuove. This is all potential rather than actuality. Lots of dense fruit tucked in and quite a bit of tannin. Dry finish. Still a baby! (JR)
Pure rich and seductive fruits in that generous way that Ornellaia has, with the most gorgeous smoky character. It is full of life and nuance and so moreish. Teases with its ability to give and take, structured yet soft, powerful but finessed, full of leather, vanilla bean, raspberry, red cherry, tar. All varieties are aged separately for 12 months then blended and then put back in barrel for 6 months, 70% new oak. First released through the Place in March 2021.
The 2018 Bolgheri Superiore Ornellaia is complete and seamlessly stitched together with extreme care and precision. This is an almost technical blend of Merlot (at 50% of the blend for the first time), 42% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Cabernet Franc and 3% Petit Verdot that offers a true sense of wholeness and consistency that speaks to the blending expertise and experience of the winemaking team. Finding harmony among the various vinous components of the wine was especially important in this vintage that prized early-ripening grapes like Merlot over the others. Blackberry and dried cherry segue to spice, tar, campfire ash and more sweet fruit. We're off to a great start, and this vintage of Ornellaia is surely destined to flesh out and grow more complex with age.
About the producer
Based in the foothills of Bolgheri, Ornellaia is one of the original Super Tuscans, making some of Italy’s finest Cabernet blends. Created by Lodovico Antinori, today the estate is owned by the Frescobaldi family, which also owns sibling property Masseto.