2021 was a hot vintage, but you can feel plenty of freshness in this wine. It has a lovely perfume of crushed hedgerow berries and some herbal notes, while in the mouth it's intense, ferrous and stony, with soft, silky tannins, some creamy cherry on the mid-palate, and intense acidity which keeps things moving. The textural detail is sublime and the verticality and fruit sapidity on display here is nothing short of breathtaking. ‘For me, it's one of the best vintages in the history of Masseto‘, states production director, Marco Balsimelli.

Concentrated grapes in a hot vintage means expect this to be a rich, concentrated Masseto, exuberant with luxurious tannins. Beautiful depth on the aromatics from the first moment, with rich fruit flavours that flood the palate, tons of liquorice, olive pit, chocolate shavings, cocoa bean, rosemary, freshly cut herbs, underbrush, opulent and powerful, flash of heat that subsides after a moment but is evident on the opening. Marco Balsimelli winemaker, Marchesi Frescobaldi owners. 11ha vineyard, 24 months ageing in barrel then 12 months in bottle before release, 100% new oak. Back to 100% Merlot in this vintage.

The 2021 Masseto is back to being 100% Merlot. Recent past vintages saw a tiny part of Cabernet Franc. That second varietal in the blend represents the proverbial "tax" one must pay in the face of climate change, especially when making wine on the sun-drenched Tuscan Coast. This is a very rich and elaborate expression with the extract, tannic tightness and the hefty 15.5% alcohol content to match. It comes off as quite big-boned or monotone. The wine is redolent of blackberry confit and cooked cherry, with a wide range of sweet oak spices to close. There is dark chocolate with a thin lining of creamy mint filling. Within the context of that fullness and generous fruit weight, Masseto is quite a commitment in terms of price and further cellaring. More bottle aging is an absolute requirement.

100% Merlot. Winemaker Marco Balsimelli said, ‘ I know this vintage well because we started to present this on the market when I arrived in 2023. I love this vintage, one of the best ever. Perfect weather, with a rainy spring and hot summer’. Deep, glowing crimson. Heady nose – one sniff reminds me of a fine Napa red. Lots of ripe tannins but very sweet fruit before that and just a hint of heat on the end. Not nearly ready. Sufficient acidity but the tannin dominates the wine currently. Very vital wine that softened in the glass. (JR)

Tasted from barrel, the 2021 Masseto pours a youthful magenta hue and brings forward an inviting bouquet with some blue fruit coming through and more chocolate aromas as well with to me it is fresh with blackberry, and purple violet flowers. It boasts outstanding concentration and depth, with a plush, cushiony texture at this stage, incredible finesse and balance, and a wonderful mineral aroma of wet asphalt coming through. A harmonious wine with well-integrated oak, this may be the best vintage of this cuvée that I have tasted to date. The adjacent sister property to Ornellaia, the Masseto estate in Bolgheri produces benchmark wines based on Merlot, with its first vintage in 1987. As noted in this report’s introduction and in the Ornellaia profile, 2023 saw the departure of long-time winemaker and estate director Axel Heinz. Winemaker Gaia Cinnirella is staying on and shows tremendous promise for the estate. Their new winery, which debuted in 2018, was designed by architects Hikaru Mori and Maurizio Zito of the ZitoMori Studio, who named it “The Quarry.” It’s an impressive design, with the exterior blending into the landscape, only to reveal its true grandeur upon entering the winery beneath. One feature of the new winery has been moving away from using stainless steel, which they found could contribute to reductive qualities. Instead, 20 to 25% of the wine is now fermented in concrete tanks, with the remainder in oak barrels. The concrete also takes on some of the qualities of barrel fermentation, without adding the additional flavors that barrels would contribute. The oldest vines are currently approaching 40 years old, and in newer vintages, Cabernet Franc they planted more recently has been making its way into the wines. My tasting took place at the winery with Gaia Cinnirella.