Tenuta dell'Ornellaia, Masseto, 2015
Tenuta dell'Ornellaia, Masseto, 2015
- 75cl
- 14.5%
- Red Still
- Merlot
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Optimal drinking window: 2028 - 2055
Back in the early 1980s, planting vines on the hills near Bolgheri was considered a gamble. Today, it’s clear that the mix of mineral-rich clay, cooling sea breezes, and the Mediterranean light was the perfect recipe.
Since its debut in 1986, Masseto has earned a place among the world’s great wines, celebrated for its power, elegance, and unmistakable character.
What the critics say:
"The release of this wine comes at a very happy time for the Masseto brand. The stunning 2015 Masseto is hitting the market just as the final touches are being made to the new Masseto winery. I'm told that Masseto might one day see other wines made under that same roof, so we can't exclude a future enlargement of the Masseto portfolio. The Masseto vineyard now covers seven hectares (divided into three plots), and the vines range from 30 to 40 years old. The wine is absolutely teeming with sensorial spirit that is transmitted through the bounty of the bouquet and the solid tannins of the mouthfeel. Nothing about the wine goes unnoticed or unchecked. Its many working pieces fit together with precision like a well-oiled machine. The 2015 vintage is characterized by a level of sheer exuberance that also defined the 2004 and 2007 vintages. Yet, it also reveals similar power, directness and linearity that we saw in the 2010 vintage. The 2015 Masseto takes the best of all those past vintages and confines those qualities to this single, spectacular bottle."
The Masseto vineyard sits on a hillside above Bolgheri in coastal Tuscany, its soils dominated by dense, mineral-rich blue-grey clay — the same geological formation that gives the wine its signature iron and graphite character. This clay retains water with extraordinary efficiency, insulating the vines during dry Mediterranean summers and producing a consistency of ripeness that is rare even by Bolgheri standards. Sea breezes from the Tyrrhenian coast moderate temperatures and slow the ripening process, building complexity rather than jamming the fruit. The vines are between 30 and 40 years old, deep-rooted and low-yielding.
Bolgheri DOC sits on the Tuscan coast in the Maremma, an appellation that effectively invented itself around the wines that were already being made there — Sassicaia, Ornellaia, Masseto — rather than the other way round. It gained DOC status in 1983 and its own Sassicaia sub-appellation in 1994, the only Italian DOC dedicated to a single estate. The appellation permits Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, and Syrah among others, with considerable latitude for blending. Masseto is unusual in being a pure varietal Merlot, which sits outside the assumptions most people bring to Bolgheri and is all the more interesting for it.
The 2015 growing season in Tuscany delivered that rare combination of favourable conditions that winemakers dream about. A warm, dry summer provided the sustained heat that Sangiovese craves, whilst crucial rainfall in late August refreshed the vines just when they needed it most. The harvest kicked off earlier than usual, with producers able to pick at optimal ripeness without the panic that often accompanies hot vintages.
What emerged from cellars was a vintage that marries power with finesse in a way that immediately caught critics' attention. The Sangiovese shows remarkable concentration and depth of colour, with tannins that feel substantial yet polished rather than aggressive. Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot thrived in the heat, producing some genuinely outstanding Super Tuscans. These wines are drinking superbly now, offering immediate pleasure whilst retaining the structure to cellar gracefully until 2030 and beyond for the finest examples.
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