Wine Spectator features Ornellaia, Masseto, Petrolo and Le Macchiole in senior editor Bruce Sanderson’s latest Tuscan vintage report. The blistering heat, severe storms, frost and drought of the 2017 vintage in Tuscany were clearly harsh conditions; director of Ornellaia and Masseto, Axel Heniz, described it as “a winemakers vintage, if you got it wrong, it’s going to show.”
Heniz details that, “It was necessary to achieve ripe tannins, which meant not picking too early. Many had finished the harvest in Bolgheri by mid-September, but the second half of the month was cooler.” Heinz and his team finished picking at the end of September. “It was a vintage you had to read properly,” he adds. “You couldn’t make any mistakes, because it was not a forgiving vintage.”
For the white wines, Sanderson gives high claim to Petrolo’s Toscana White Bòggina B 2017, which “ups the ante, offering opulent peach, melon, lemon and wild herb flavors wrapped in a cloak of vanilla-accented oak.” Similarly Ornellaia’s rare Toscana White 2017 “is the most expensive white in this report, but also one of the best, with complex peach, passion fruit and elderflower aromas and flavors ending in a saline note.”
To learn more about the 2017 vintage and these estates, read the full article HERE.
The-Power-of-Tuscany-_-Wine-SpectatorRelated Producers
Ornellaia
Bolgheri, Italy
Ornellaia has established itself as one of the most iconic producers in Italy (and beyond). The estate is dedicated to producing charming and opulent wines, full of Mediterranean character and finesse, reflecting the estate's unique terroir in Bolgheri on the Tuscan coast.
Masseto
Bolgheri, Italy
Masseto is one of the world's iconic wines. Coveted by international collectors and fine wine connoisseurs across the globe, Masseto constantly receives the highest accolades from the most prestigious wine critics in the world, and is a fixture in the international fine wine trade indexes.
Petrolo
Val d'Arno di Sopra, Tuscany. Italy
Petrolo is the definition of a cult winery, with an owner and a story that have helped create its legendary status. While the estate's benchmark wine, the Merlot cru Galatrona, deservedly receives fireworks in the press and is part of the history of Tuscany’s quality revolution in the late 1980s and 1990s, the winery's two other standouts, Torrione and Boggina, are an equally thrilling success - Sangiovese from a special and virtually unknown appellation bordering Chianti Classico that today produces wines of distinct regional identity.
Le Macchiole
Bolgheri, Italy
Le Macchiole can best be defined as the “Boutique Bolgheri.” The winery is known for its spectacular single-varietal wines, and their signature grape varieties are Syrah, Merlot, and Cabernet Franc and work is always conducted with the priority being "the expression of the land." The winery continues to evolve in both the vineyards and in the cellar to allow the soil characteristics from this estate property to be the defining identity in the wines.