98pts James Suckling
Alluring aromas of lead pencil and currants with crushed stone and iodine. Full-bodied with hemmed in tannins that are tight and focused. Very fresh and energetic with wonderful length and intensity for this vintage. Needs four or five years to come together. Better in 2028 and onwards.
97pts Wine Advocate
Tasted from barrel, the 2020 Bolgheri Superiore Ornellaia will be presented in the fall but won’t hit the market until spring of the following year. This is a beauty, so generous and opulent with fully seamless transitions. The wine’s traditional blend is mostly Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot with tiny percentages of Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot, although this warm vintage makes do with a pinch less of the Cabernet Sauvignon. Fruit is selected across 107 hectares of Ornellaia vines, although the estate recently purchased an additional eight hectares next to Guado al Tasso in Castagneto Carducci, with terraces and vines aged between 15 and 28 years old. This broad and generous expression has a beautiful quality of fruit and oak that speaks to the very best of Italian winemaking.
96pts Jeb Dunnuck
The 2020 Ornellaia is 50% Cabernet Sauvignon, 28% Merlot, and the rest Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot, raised in 70% new French oak for 18 months, with another 12 months in bottle prior to release. Flush with herbs and menthol, blackberry, and cedar, it is full bodied and fills the sides of the mouth with rounded fruit of luxurious plum, black cherry, and toast, with supple and velvety tannins. Drink 2026-2046.
96pts Decanter
Estate director Axel Heinz called 2020 ‘a classic Ornellaia,’ and picked the theme of ‘La Proporzione‘ (proportion) to describe its character. Indeed, the blend of 50% Cabernet Sauvignon, 32% Merlot, 13% Cabernet Franc and 5% Petit Verdot marks a return to a more typical blend following the pendulum swings of 62% Cabernet Sauvignon in 2019, and 51% Merlot in 2018. Fine-grained and beautifully textured, its finely integrated tannins support a concentration of black fruits lightened by red berries. Aromas of black cherry, liquorice, dark chocolate, cedar and damp earth make for a fragrant wine, accompanied by menthol and balsamic streaks which run through the wine and impart plenty of freshness. It finishes with a stony and salty element along with some chocolatey and woody hints. Tight and moreish, its ripeness of fruit combined with freshness and structure adeptly tells the story of this earlier-ripening vintage. It lacks complexity in the mouth – this will come with time – but the array of aromas gives a hint of what is to come.
96pts Wine Spectator
Inviting aromas of blackberry, black currant, anise, cedar, vanilla and tobacco draw you in to this red, which is sleek and open on the palate. This is so well-balanced, it's approachable now, yet there's a bit of reserve too. The fruit flavors are prominent on the finish, along with mineral and spice notes, while the lasting impression is a salty, flinty element. Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot.
Winemaker's Notes
With its usual deep ruby red colour, Ornellaia 2020 stands out on the nose with ripe red fruits and delicate vanilla and gentle tobacco notes. Upon tasting, the wine reveals itself to be rounded and velvety, making an enjoyable and engaging first impression that entices for a second sip. The tannins are dense yet elegant and the finish proves to be savory and enduring.
History
In 1981, Marchese Lodovico Antinori breathed new life into Tenuta dell' Ornellaia, an estate whose potential had been ignored for decades. With the help of Andre Tchelistcheff, the famous agronomist, Antinori planted the first French vines in Bolgheri, which lies in the heart of Tuscany's coastal region, Maremma. The estate yields some of the finest Sangiovese, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Cabernet Franc in Tuscany. In 2002, Marchesi de' Frescobaldi and Robert Mondavi became owners of Tenuta dell'Ornellaia, which is now owned exclusively by Marchesi de' Frescobaldi.
Ornellaia has established itself among the iconic wine estates in Italy (and beyond). The estate is dedicated to producing charming and opulent wines, full of Mediterranean character and finesse, reflecting the estate’s unique terroir in Bolgheri on the Tuscan coast. The combination of Bolgheri’s unique soils and growing conditions, and what can only be characterized as a total obsession with excellence, result in the world-class wines from Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Sauvignon Blanc that so many wine lovers across the world have come to cherish.
Ornellaia employs a full time team of 80 people whose passion and motivation make Ornellaia what it is today. No shortcuts in the part of the production are allowed and the details literally come down to a grape by grape basis. Wines are intently crafted to capture the character of each vintage, in all its complexity and facets. In fact, the character and intricacies of each individual vintage are so important to the estate that since vintage 2006, Winemaker and Estate Director Axel Heinz has identified a single word that captures the character of each vintage, and that word is interpreted by a contemporary artist who produces special labels and a site-specific work of art that remains part of the estate’s permanent collection.
In addition to its place among Italy’s iconic wines, Ornellaia is also an ambassador for the Bolgheri region, leading it to be recognized as one of Italy’s greatest winegrowing regions. It is their belief, and it is hard to argue, that Bogheri’s mild maritime climate and diversity of soils create wines as distinct, complex and pleasurable as any in the world.
