Just bottled, the 2016 Ornellaia is a dense, powerful wine. Naturally, the 2016 is just at the beginning of its life, but I am struck by how polished the tannins are for such a young wine. Ornellaia is at its best starting around age ten, but there is little doubt the 2016 is a hugely promising wine. Black cherry, chocolate, plum, new leather and a range of spice notes all build into a veritable crescendo of aromas, flavors and textures.

An astoundingly vibrant, powerful and concentrated Ornellaia that has a wealth of intense dark cherries, mulberries and plums with hints of espresso, dark cocoa powder and cedar. The concentrated palate is framed in long, regal tannins that bring focus to the plush, ripe and fresh black cherries and dark plums. Extremely balanced. Best from 2025.

Known as ‘La Tensione’, Ornellaia 2016 is everything you expect from a great wine in a great vintage following a few years of bottle age: Poised, ethereal, fragrant, intense and sapid, its silky and floral dark fruit character is backed by that classic 2016 tannic structure, making this somewhat of a transitional year between the bold and muscular Ornellaia of old and the new, trimmed down frame we see today. Superb. 51% Cabernet Sauvignon, 27% Merlot, 18% Cabernet Franc, 4% Petit Verdot.

From a great vintage for Bolgheri, the 2016 Ornellaia is a classic blend of 51% Cabernet Sauvignon, 27% Merlot, 18% Cabernet Franc, and 4% Petit Verdot that was aged 20 months in 70% new French oak. Its saturated purple color is followed by a deep, beautifully concentrated yet primordial effort that offers serious intensity in its cassis, black cherry, graphite, bay leaf, forest floor, and spring flower aromas and flavors. Full-bodied and multi-dimensional on the palate, it has thrilling purity of fruit, ample tannins, and a great, great finish. This is a tour de force in red wine that needs 4-5 years of bottle age and will keep for two decades.

The 2016 Bolgheri Superiore Ornellaia is a wine of extreme complexity and precision. It offers monumental depth with profound layers of black fruit, coffee, licorice and baking chocolate. I tasted this 2016 vintage beside the less-impactful 2015 vintage (which was reviewed last year). These two editions are very different when compared side to side, and this 2016 release is clearly superior in terms of the quality, clarity and intensity of its offerings. This Ornellaia delivers glossy shine and a polished texture that segues to important richness, concentration and textural fiber. It wraps thickly over the palate, imparting waves of sweet dark fruit and dark spice that linger for many long minutes. This beautiful wine is hitting the market now, but collectors will want to put it straight into their cellars for safekeeping. ML

Ornellaia 2016 is a top example of this estate in Bolgheri and its legendary longevity will not betray it. Less extracted than in the past, it's more restrained yet perfectly ripe and with a great intensity of aromas. It opens up with spicy notes of clove and nutmeg, followed by brambly fruit and a kind of iodine mineral character in depth, finishing with an amazing length of tobacco. The super-fine, oaky style needs time to integrate with the firm yet velvety tannins and refreshing acidity. Drinking Window 2019 - 2045
Blind tasted by Aldo Fiordelli (at San Guido, Consorzio Bolgheri, 24 Jun 2019)

Now we're talking. Tasted from barrel, the 2016 Bolgheri Superiore Ornellaia will be released in May 2019. This is a luxuriant wine with profuse abundance and beaming optimism. Both the 2015 and 2016 vintages are distinguished by the supple sweetness of the tannins, but the 2016 edition has just a hair more acidity. You don't necessarily taste that freshness, but it does contribute to the linearity and the framework of the wine. This is an iconic vintage for Bolgheri. The summer was dry and warm, and temperatures cooled down at harvest leading to optimal sugar and phenolic ripeness. The next vintage, 2017, threw many more curve balls and had vintners scrambling to achieve quality by resorting to severe fruit selection and low yields. This wine is generous and thickly layered. It delivers the most beautiful sensations of Softness, Succulence and Structure. The balance between those three S's is Sublime.