A tight and silky red with compacted fruit and tannin texture featuring blackcurrant, mushroom and bark undertones. Full body, firm tannins and a minerally finish. Excellent structure and mouthfeel. A cooler style of Ornellaia, bringing it back to the classicism of this celebrated region. Bordeaux blend. Better in 2018.

August 2015

This famed SuperTuscan wine (a Cabernet Sauvignon-Merlot blend with 10% Cabernet Franc and 7% Petit Verdot) is the flagship cuvée of Ornellaia, one of the most prominent estates in the small Bolgheri region and owned by the Frescobaldi family. Like 2011, it was a dry growing year in 2012, and it wasn’t until scattered showers hit the vines in August and September that the ripening was propelled, resulting in fine overall ripeness. Each variety was vinified separately before being moved into 70% new barriques. Vincenzo Arnese; Complex notes of ripe blackcurrant and dark cherry on the nose, with walnut, cedar and smoked charcoal. The palate is fresh and vibrant, showing rich yet integrated tannins. It will also improve with time. Pedro Ballesteros Torres MW: Amazingly refined cassis, blackberry, ink and dried flower aromas, with a touch of spice. On the palate it’s deep, complex, multi-layered, silky and long. Impressive. Amanda Barnes: There are seductive notes of crème de cassis with some cigar box and liquorice on the nose. A very inviting blend with a silky fruit profile and a mineral tension to the fine tannins and fresh acid. Drinking Window: 2023 - 2040
Nominated by Ronan Sayburn MS
Tasted by: Vincenzo Arnese, Pedro Ballesteros Torres MW, Amanda Barnes (at Decanter Tasting Suite, London, 01 Dec 2022)
Part of Wines of the Year 2022: top-scoring bottles

The 2012 Bolgheri Superiore Ornellaia is very similar to the 2011 Ornellaia that precedes it. These were both hot vintages, but 2012 saw the heat towards the end of the growing season. In fact the harvest in 2012 came two weeks earlier than average. This seamless blend of Cabernet Sauvignon (56%), Merlot (27%), Cabernet Franc (10%) and Petit Verdot (7%) shows some of the roundness and softness of that summer heat. The wine's density and extraction are spot-on and the bouquet is beautifully shaped by dark cherry nuances with spice, leather and tobacco at the back. There is a gorgeous sense of richness and plushness here. Some 160,000 bottles were produced. This edition of Ornellaia is more immediate in character and less suited to the decades-long aging that cooler vintages can affront so successfully.

Monica Larner (Wine Advocate #221, Oct 2015)

Quality 931 | Brand 990 | Economics 0 | buzz brand
Quality: Brand: Strong restaurant presence, featuring on 40 of the world's top wine lists, including Babbo Economics: Production: Lower production than its peer group average of 151,875 bottles

- www.wine-lister.com June 2017