2018 Tenuta dell'Ornellaia Tuscany 1.5L
With its usual deep ruby-red color, Ornellaia 2018 features a lively and intense aromatic expression, a distinctive mark of the vintage. Red fruits, citrus notes, hints of licorice and Mediterranean scrub combine to form its profile. With the first taste it is enveloping and all its components well-balanced: the tannins, both dense and silky in texture, fill the palate with elegance and precision. The finish is lifted by a distinct tangy vein that enhances the sensation of freshness and persistence.
Ornellaia, founded in Bolgheri by Ludovico Antinori in 1981, is a deserving icon of Italian wines. About 80 people work at this 240–acre vineyard and winery year round, and produce one of the world’s greatest Cabernet blends. Quite simply, it’s one of the great wines of Italy. As we’ve gushed a few times before, the following wines exemplify the phrase “come hither.” They have a warmth, charisma, and delicacy to them that you can really only find in Tuscany. The sun of the Bolgheri coast, her complex soils, and the Bordelais varietals create an alchemy in the bottle that beckons you in a way that other Cabernet blends–whether they’re from Bordeaux or California–simply can’t. At least a mixed case or two of these beauties, with uncommon critical consensus, are attractive investments in pleasure!