Tenuta dell’Ornellaia: Ornellaia and Masseto 1997-2004 

2004 Tenuta dell’Ornellaia	Ornellaia	95
2003 Tenuta dell’Ornellaia	Ornellaia	93
2002 Tenuta dell’Ornellaia	Ornellaia	92
2001 Tenuta dell’Ornellaia	Ornellaia	94
2000 Tenuta dell’Ornellaia	Ornellaia	92
1999 Tenuta dell’Ornellaia	Ornellaia	95
1998 Tenuta dell’Ornellaia	Ornellaia	91
1997 Tenuta dell’Ornellaia	Ornellaia	93
2004 Tenuta dell’Ornellaia	Masseto	97
2003 Tenuta dell’Ornellaia	Masseto	93
2002 Tenuta dell’Ornellaia	Masseto	90
2001 Tenuta dell’Ornellaia	Masseto	97
2000 Tenuta dell’Ornellaia	Masseto	91
1999 Tenuta dell’Ornellaia	Masseto	95
1998 Tenuta dell’Ornellaia	Masseto	93
1997 Tenuta dell’Ornellaia	Masseto	94

Tenuta dell’Ornellaia is without question one of Italy’s blue-chip properties. The gorgeous, sprawling estate is located in Bolgheri in Tuscany’s Maremma. On a recent visit I had the opportunity to taste a number of the estate’s wines with General Manager/Agronomist Leonardo Raspini and Oenologist Axel Heinz, including verticals of the estate’s top bottlings Ornellaia and Masseto.

Ornellaia is a Bordeaux-inspired blend consisting principally of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Merlot. In 2003 a small percentage of Petit Verdot was introduced. The use of several varietals gives the winemaking team the luxury of being able to tailor the exact proportion of the blend to the specific strengths of a given vintage. Because the blend tends to vary from year to year in a vertical tasting Ornellaia shows many different facets of its personality.

After harvest the varietals are vinified separately. Fermentation and maceration lasts between 25-30 days after which the wines are moved into French oak barrels where they age for 12 months. The wines are then racked and assembled into the final blend, which spends an additional six months in barrel prior to being bottled. The percentage of new oak has risen from 50%, which was used for vintages 1997 and 1998, to 60% used in 1999, to the 70% the estate has employed since 2000.

The 100% Merlot Masseto, on the other hand, has proven to be a wine of greater singularity. Its unique, unmistakable personality always comes through, especially in a set of widely diverse vintages, as this vertical attests. The Masseto vineyard measures roughly 7 hectares. Set on a gently sloping hill, the vineyard is divided into three sections which contain different clay-based soil types. The structure of Masseto comes from the central portion of the vineyard (Masseto Centrale), where the terrain is most compact. Towards the upper part of the hillside (Masseto Alto) the soils contain a higher percentage of rocks and thus yield wines that are more aromatic. The lower stretch of the vineyard, known as “Masseto Junior,” is also the most recent to be planted. According to Raspini the fruit from these vines bridges the qualities of the wines from the central and upper portions of the vineyard and thus serves to give Masseto its finesse and balance. There is also a small amount of fruit that comes from the “Vigna Vecchia” plot which is the source of the Merlot that is used for Ornellaia.

Each parcel is harvested and vinified separately. Fermentation and maceration typically last around 25 days, give or take, depending on the quality of the fruit, after which the wines are moved into 100% new French oak barrels for the malolactic fermentations. The wines spend 12 months in oak prior to being assembled, after which the final blend spends an additional 12 months in oak prior to being bottled.

“Our last three vintages could not have been more different,” explains General Manager/Agronomist Leonardo Raspini. “For us 2004 was a terrific vintage, one that combines very high quality with quantity. It may sound hard to believe but here those two go hand in hand. The weather throughout the summer and into the fall was very stable which allowed us to pick each parcel at the optimum level of ripeness. We are happy with all of our wines, from top to bottom.”

“2003 was of course a very hot vintage. Other than leaving as much leaf cover as possible there wasn’t much we could do. It was an exceedingly dry summer although we did get a little rain in mid- September which helped the later-ripening Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon. Unfortunately the Merlot was too far along in its maturation for the rain to have any effect. Because we had better results with our Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc in 2003, Ornellaia contains a higher percentage of those varietals. It was an even more challenging vintage for Merlot. For our Masseto we were only able to use the oldest, central part of the vineyard. That said, the vines held up well and our harvest was only a week or so earlier than normal. Relative to other vintages the polyphenol readings were lower than usual so we did slightly longer fermentations to try to extract as much as possible from the fruit. Our overall production was down about 30%.”

“Vintage 2002 was a different story altogether. The summer, especially August, was very rainy. It was clear pretty early on that we wouldn’t be able to make the kind of wines we like most, those that express the power of Bolgheri. So we opted for a more varietal expression in the wines. In the cellar our vinifications were pretty much in line with what we do most years. We made our biggest adjustments in the aging of the wines, leaving them in oak for a shorter time than is normally the case.”

“In 2001 we suffered damage from an early April frost which reduced our production by 10-15% right off the bat. Since the damage was quite random, our work in the vineyards centered around trying to restore balance within each plant, rather than do the more universal green-harvesting that was required in a naturally abundant vintage like 2004. What makes the 2001s special is that the plants concentrated all of their energy on the remaining fruit from the very beginning of the growing season, as opposed to 2004 in which we had to reduce the load on the plants several times.”

“In 2000 we experienced an accelerated maturation of sugars due to a spell of heat from mid-August to mid-September. We were forced to pick somewhat earlier than we would have liked, and we ended up with slightly dried out fruit and seeds that had not reached full phenolic ripeness. This was especially evident in the Merlot, while the Cabernet Sauvignon was more resistant to the heat owing to the firmer texture of the stems. On the other hand conditions during 1999 were close to perfect. We had a hot summer, but calm weather during the harvest, which gave us the luxury of harvesting under tranquil conditions. Because the fruit had so much potential in the cellar we wanted to extract as much as possible during the vinifications and we may have taken the maceration times a bit too far. As a result, the wines have been very slow to mature and are just now starting to show their true potential.”

“When it comes to the 1998s I think you taste the heat of the vintage, but that characteristic is tempered by the cool breezes from the sea, which were especially prevalent that year. At the time we didn’t have the sorting table we have today so the selection process was less rigid. Some of the stems were a little green and that comes through in the lean personalities on the wines as well as the slightly vegetal note the wines show on the finish. 1997 was another year that started with a spring frost that reduced production at the outset. Even though it was a hot vintage, the wines have retained a fair amount of freshness and it is mostly on the finish where the warmth of the vintage is felt.”

The gorgeous 2004 Ornellaia is a great way to start this tasting. A lively dark ruby, it is a vibrant effort bursting with expressive aromatics and layered, well-delineated fruit, showing much purity on the palate and closing with a long, finessed finish. Readers hoping to catch this wine’s full array of nuances will have to wait at least another few years as the wine remains quite primary today. This exquisite effort is not to be missed. A blend of 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% Merlot, 12% Cabernet Franc and 3% Petit Verdot. 95/Anticipated maturity: 2011-2019. The opulent 2003 Ornellaia (60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Merlot, 20% Cabernet Franc and 5% Petit Verdot) presents a dramatic contrast to the 2004 in its super-ripe, open nose and jammy dark fruit. Ample and warm on the palate, it is clearly the product of a very hot vintage, yet it shows notable freshness along with much persistence, great overall balance and a lingering note of sweetness on the finish. 93/Anticipated maturity: 2008-2018.

The estate’s 2002s show why Tenuta dell’Ornellaia is one of Italy’s premier properties. Those obsessed with points will chase the higher rated 2003s and 2004s, but consumers who buy wines to drink them would do well to consider these 2002s especially given that pricing should be favorable. The 2002s are by no means the equal of the estate’s top wines but they will offer useful drinking while the more important vintages reach maturity.  The 2002 Ornellaia (65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot and 5% Petit Verdot) is an astoundingly good wine considering the vintage. A vibrant dark ruby/violet, it offers suggestions of herbs, tobacco, earthiness and dark red fruit with excellent length and notable structure. Although it doesn’t have the concentration or length of the best vintages, it displays terrific overall balance and is undoubtedly a huge overachiever for which General Manager/Agronomist Leonardo Raspini and his entire team deserve much credit. 92/Anticipated maturity: 2008-2017.

The super-finessed 2001 Ornellaia (65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot and 5% Cabernet Franc) opens with a deeply expressive nose. It is a concentrated full-bodied effort. The appearance of tobacco and licorice suggest that this wine is entering the early portion of is maturity, but there is plenty of fruit as well as structure to support another decade of aging. 94/Anticipated maturity: 2007-2017. Nothing in particular stands out about the 2000 Ornellaia, instead the whole is clearly greater than the sum of its parts. This blend of 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot and 5% Cabernet Franc is a seamless beauty, showing exceptional purity with notable length on the palate and no hard edges. While the 2000 may not have the structure or complexity of the best vintages it will provide exceptional drinking now and to age 15, give or take. 92/Anticipated maturity: 2007-2015. I was blown away by the 1999 Ornellaia. Still fresh and youthful, it reveals a powerful, authoritative personality in its layers of primary fruit, with its opulence beautifully balanced by its big yet polished tannins. Another year or two of bottle age is probably called for but readers will have a hard time keeping their hands off this gorgeous wine. Given its considerable structure it should have no problem aging for another dozen years. In 1999 the blend consisted of 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot and 5% Cabernet Franc. 95/Anticipated maturity: 2009-2019.

The 1998 is a decidedly slender Ornellaia. More advanced than the 1999, it shows notes of tobacco, herbs and ripe fruit on a medium-bodied frame with good length on the palate and slightly less polished tannins than is usually the case. The final blend in 1998 was 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 35% Merlot and 5% Cabernet Franc. 91/Anticipated maturity: 2008-2018. The estate’s 1997 Ornellaia (65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot and 5% Cabernet Franc) combines the large-framed opulence of the 1999 with the slightly more herbal notes found in the 1998. It is a big, plump wine packed with layers of fruit and well-integrated oak, showing outstanding length and the telltale note of sweetness on the finish that defines this vintage. Despite its approachable nature today, the 1997 appears to have enough structure to drink well for another decade. Both the 1997 Ornellaia and Masseto enjoyed a very strong showing in this tasting. 93/Anticipated maturity: 2007-2017.

The stunning 2004 Masseto, first tasted from barrel in September 2006, presents layers of sweet jammy dark fruit and mineral notes that burst forth from the glass with notable length, purity and delineation. It is a decidedly elegant and super-refined Masseto that continues to integrate its 100% new oak well, showing extraordinary class and fine, silky-textured tannins that caress the palate on the long finish. The 2004 will be hard to resist in its youth as it is incredibly delicious even now, yet it promises to develop gracefully to at least age 20. The 2004 Masseto is a phenomenal effort that is not to be missed. My initial barrel score (94-97) was confirmed by two recent tastings of the finished wine from bottle. 97/Anticipated maturity: 2011-2024. The 2003 Masseto opens with a huge, expressive super-ripe nose. Ample and expansive on the palate, it displays much opulence in its generous fruit, with awesome concentration, outstanding length and a lovely vein of minerality which provides a level of freshness that is surprising for the vintage. A lingering note of sweetness punctuates the long finish. It should drink well for at least another decade, although it is absolutely irresistible today. It is a stunning wine. Owing to the challenging nature of the vintage, in 2003 Masseto was made only from the central part of the vineyard which is planted with the oldest vines. 93/Anticipated maturity: 2007-2017.

The 2002 Masseto is a strong effort, made all the more notable given the poor overall quality of the vintage. It presents an herbal profile on the nose along with notes of tobacco, black pepper and white truffle that emerge with some time in the glass. On the palate it is a decidedly slender Masseto, with less concentration than is typical of this wine, but the fruit is vibrant and fresh, the oak well integrated, and it offers much persistence as well as length in a more linear expression of this wine. While the 2002 will never compete with the best Massetos, on an absolute level it is a lovely wine that clearly has the potential to offer some surprises down the road. 90/Anticipated maturity: 2008-2017. In just a few short years the 2001 Masseto has become one of Italy’s most collectible wines, and this tasting confirmed that it is fully deserving of the accolades it has received. The 2001 is an extraordinary Masseto, bursting with layers of vibrant fruit intermingled with finely nuanced suggestions of minerals, menthol and eucalyptus. Boasting superb concentration and length on the palate, it is a powerful wine that is in need of at least another few years of cellaring. 97/Anticipated maturity: 2011-2021.

Readers looking for a more mature Masseto might want to consider the 2000. It presents a more evolved set of earth, tobacco and roasted coffee bean aromas and flavors along with ripe dark fruit. Although it displays plenty of concentration and length on the palate its slightly coarse tannins are those of a merely good, but not great vintage. 91/Anticipated maturity: 2007-2017. With the 1999 vintage Masseto returns to another powerful, fresh and vibrant expression of this wine. Conveying an impression of youth, the 1999 Masseto reveals layers of dark fruit that open in the glass with much persistence on the palate and terrific overall balance. It is stunning vintage for this wine. 95/ Anticipated maturity: 2009-2019.

The 1998 Masseto is another wine that is drinking particularly well today. It is opulent and expansive on the palate, where it offers plenty of ripe dark fruit along with more advanced notes of tobacco, showing much length and style although the tannins finish slightly hard and dry. 93/Anticipated maturity: 2008-2018. The estate’s 1997 Masseto has developed beautifully over the last few years. It offers a heady combination of super-ripe fruit intermingled with notes of spices, herbs and tobacco. Full-bodied and vibrant, it comes across as packed with fruit, displaying superb length and a long finish framed by the lingering note of sweetness that defines this warm vintage. Despite its open, luxurious personality, there is plenty of structure underneath to support at least another decade of aging. 94/Anticipated maturity: 2007-2017.

--Antonio Galloni