2020 Tenuta dell' Ornellaia 'Ornellaia' Bolgheri
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 savoury and enduring. -Olga Fusari
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!
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 due 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.
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.