Tenuta dell'Ornellaia Masseto 2010

Tenuta dell'Ornellaia Masseto 2010

Vineyards

Tuscany, Italy

Winemaking and Maturation

Harvest started on 14 September, with the youngest vines of ‘Masseto Junior’ and ‘Masseto Isola’, and was concluded on 4 October, with the left section of ‘Masseto Centrale’. That date was the latest ever in the history of Masseto, yielding a total of five different vinification lots.

The clusters were hand-picked into 15kg boxes, then graded and selected by hand on a double-sorting table before and after destemming, and finally carefully crushed.

Each single vineyard block was vinified separately. Fermentation took place in both steel and oak, followed by a 15-20 day maceration at 25-28°C. The wine then began malolactic fermentation in new oak barriques. Each individual lot was matured separately for the first 12 months.

The wine was then assembled and returned to the barriques for an additional year, for a total of 24 months. After bottling, the wine aged a further 12 months prior to release.

Tasting Notes

The relatively cool climate of 2010 yielded a wine that is remarkably elegant and has superb, complex aromatics. The colour is dense and near-opaque, while the nose boasts intense, deep fruit accompanied by delicate spice notes and a vein of crisp minerality.

If on the palate it presents itself somewhat less opulent than in warmer vintages, it does, however, display an impressively dense suite of firm tannins that seem to linger forever. The equally-lengthy finish conveys elegant notes of toast and chocolate. A Masseto full of elegance and finesse, but with its customary magnificence.

Technical Details