Tenuta dell'Ornellaia Bolgheri DOC Rosso Le Serre Nuove 2017
- Vintage
- 2017
- Country
- Italy
- Region
- Tuscany
- Size
- 750ml
- Grapes
- Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon
- Rating
- WA93, WS93, JS93, WE90
The Ornellaia 2017 Bolgheri Rosso Le Serre Nuove dell'Ornellaia is a real charmer of a wine with a sweet, soft and supple disposition. The exact blend is 54% Merlot, 26% Cabernet Sauvignon, 14% Cabernet Franc and 6% Petit Verdot. Fermentation starts in stainless steel, and the wine is then racked over to barrique to complete malolactic fermentation. It ages in oak for 15 months. Production is large, with some 250,000 bottles released in September 2019. The whole entire presentation here is seamless, from start to finish, with dark fruit and cherry slowly folding into leather, spice and pipe tobacco. Fruit was denser and more compact in this hot and dry vintage, and you absolutely feel that extra richness and concentration. I recommend another quick two years of aging to relax the wine's tannins that are extra tight in 2017. - WA93
The ripe plum, cherry, black currant, licorice and iron aromas and flavors are enticing in this youthful red. Solid and intense, yet never heavy, delivering harmony and extending nicely on the wild herb- and tobacco-tinged aftertaste. Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot. Best from 2021 through 2030. - WS93
A blend of Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot, this opens with aromas of violet, tobacco and green peppercorn. The savory, youthfully tense palate offers black plum, licorice, toasted oak and mocha alongside finegrained tannins. - WE90
Le Serre Nuove dell’Ornellaia 2017 expresses itself with outstanding elegance, combining great ageing potential with immediate enjoyability. A deep ruby red colour with purple highlights, a beautifully complex nose characterised by scents of small red berries and balsamic notes reminiscent of Mediterranean scrub vegetation. The quality of the tannins on the palate is particularly striking, smooth and silky. The mouthfeel ends with a lingering finish and unexpected freshness.- Winemaker's Notes
Tenuta dell'Ornellaia is one of the foremost producers in the Bolgheri appellation on the coast of Tuscany, particularly known for making one of Italy's most famous and expensive wines, Ornellaia. This Bordeaux-style blend is one of the original 'Super Tuscans', and is made from Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, with smaller amounts of Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot, instead of Tuscany's most famous variety, Sangiovese.
The vineyard, which neighbors Sassacaia in Tuscany's coastal Maremma region, enjoys gentle sea breezes which mitigate the summer heat, and is sheltered by neighboring hills from cold winter winds. The soils are a complex mix of alluvial, volcanic and marine elements, providing a good base for the Bordeaux varieties which are planted here. After hand picking and careful selection – firstly by bunch and secondly grape by grape – each variety and each vineyard block is vinified separately in stainless steel tanks. Ornellaia is aged for around 18 months in oak, 70 percent of which is new. Grapes which do not make the cut for the top wine are redirected to Le Serre Nuove, which usually has more Merlot, and less time in oak.
The Tenuta dell'Ornellaia portfolio also includes the second wine Le Volte, a blend of Merlot, Sangiovese and Cabernet Sauvignon, Poggio alla Gazze, a Sauvignon Blanc-based white and Ornus, a late harvest Petit Manseng. Tenuta dell'Ornellaia also owns Masseto, a single-vineyard Merlot with its own winery and an even higher price tag.
The company was founded in 1981 by Marchese Ludovico Antinori, with the first vintage in 1985. From 2002 to 2005 the estate was co-owned by Robert Mondavi and Marchesi di Frescobaldi, but since 2005 Frescobaldi has owned it outright. Michel Rolland has been engaged as consultant winemaker since 1991. – Information from Wine Searchers