A cellar visit to Ornellaia reveals why their wine is so unique.

Ornellaia Cellar Visit
Ornellaia
Driving along the cypress tree-lined road towards Ornellaia, we passed winery after winery. With each one a gleeful sound would arise from my husband seated next to me in the car. We are in Bolgheri, a relatively new wine area in Tuscany previously known for potatoes, and a virtual Disneyland of favourite wines for my husband.

Ornellaia label

Ornellaia was a unique wine when it was started by the Antinori family 30 years ago with the ambition of creating a Bordeaux style wine Tuscany. With its first wine-maker coming from Napa (but of Russian origin) Ornellaia achieved worldwide fame in 1998 when their wine was voted best wine in the world by Wine Spectator. Their top wine, Masseto, then began receiving top marks each year.

Masseto vineyard

Merlot grapes destined to become Masseto wine

The winery is a mosaic of different soils, each plot treated uniquely. On the left the soil is more clay, red with iron, on the right the soil is more sandy, further on it is more rocky, and over there more limestone. Each plot ranges in density from 3,500 to 12,000 vines per hectare. The grapes are primarily Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. They are twice carefully selected, once in the vineyard and again on the sorting table. Each plot is cultivated separately until a year after it has been harvested. Then the difficult decision of which wine from which plots will be mixed together to make Ornellaia, then their second wine, Le Serre Nuove, and finally Le Volte.

The winery

Fountains inside the winery

Our guide explained what made Ornellaia special was the forest surrounding the winery and the sea in the near distance. The hours spent cultivating the vines are considerably greater, 850 hours per hectare compared to an average 300 hours per hectare in Chianti Classico and an average 500 hours per hectare in Montalcino.

The grapes are pressed gently so as to not break the seeds or skins

The tanks where the grapes are fermented

The barrels where the wine is aged.

In production, the grapes are pressed gently so as to not break the seeds and the skins. The juice is then added to either steel or concrete tanks before going into oak barrels for aging.

Le Volte, Ornellaia’s table wine

Le Volte is a very good table wine, extremely enjoyable but with a short finish. It is made with Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Sangiovese grape varietals. It should be enjoyed at least 3 months after production and can be held for up to 4 years. There are 500,000 bottles produced every year.

Le Serre Nuove, the second wine to Ornellaia

Le Serre Nuove, Ornellaia’s second wine, has nice fruit and tannins with a longer finish. It is made with a minimum of 50% Merlot with the rest made up of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, and Petit Verdot. It is made to be enjoyed today but can be held for up to 12 years after production. There are 220,000 bottles produced per year.

Ornellaia 2009

Salmanazar of Ornellaia 2009 with a steel sculpture designed by artist Zhang Huan

Ornellaia has beautiful fruit and the 2010 vintage we tried had tannins which were still quite forward. The 2010 vintage should be ready to drink from 2017. Our guide said the 2007 was a perfectly balanced wine while the 2009 was a vintage that had hot weather and the wine has a lot of fruit but will likely have a shorter shelf life. I had tried the 1988 vintage a few weeks earlier and it was perfectly balanced with the fruit, tannin, and alcohol in harmony with one another. Ornellaia is between 55 to 65% Cabernet Sauvignon with the remainder primarily Merlot with a small amount of Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot. It should be stored properly until 8 years after production when the wine opens up. It can then be enjoyed for up to 30 years after production. About 150,000 cases of Ornellaia are produced every year. Over the past decade, every vintage has a new label created by a designer.

Masseto is a cult wine made only from merlot and is produced in extremely small quantities and therefore difficult to find.

They also produce small amounts of white wine (Poggio alla Gazze dell’Ornellaia), sweet wine (Ornus dell’Ornellaia), grappa (Ornellaia Grappa), and olive oil.