The 2017 Ornellaia Bianco is impressive, especially within the context of the warm, dry year. Bright and focused, the Bianco shows the natural richness of the vintage - that is impossible to escape - but it also retains quite a bit of energy. Orchard fruit, citrus and floral notes are beautifully delineated throughout. Once again, the Bianco is a wine of real distinction.

A really beautiful, layered white with sliced lemons, limes, stones and hints of steel. Some lemon curd. Tight and solid with fine phenolics that give it structure and focus. Extremely poised and dignified. Drink now or hold.

The 2017 Ornellaia Bianco is a slightly tweaked blend compared to the 2016 and includes a splash of Viognier. The blend is 91% Sauvignon Blanc and 9% Viognier, which is a combination you don't see often, yet it makes sense, and the Viognier plays the role of Semillon seen in Bordeaux Blanc releases. Coming from a dry, hot year, it has a beautiful bouquet of Meyer lemons, honeysuckle, flowers, and hints of barrique. This carries to a seamless, full-bodied white that's flawlessly balanced, has a bright core of acidity, ample mid-palate depth, and a great finish. It's one seriously classy white I'd be thrilled to drink any time over the coming 4-5 years.

The previous vintage of this wine was made soley with Sauvignon Blanc, but as expected, the Ornellaia 2017 Ornellaia Bianco sees a small percentage of Viognier added to the blend. The exact percentage of the two components is 91% Sauvignon Blanc and 9% Viognier. If you are a fan of these grape varieties, as I am, this wine will appeal to all your basic pleasure points. Showing medium rich concentration and a creamy textural fiber, it reveals some of the weight that we associated with this hot and dry vintage. However, any trace of over-ripeness is mitigated by the cool soils that, in this case, consist of deep calcarious clay broken up by rocks at a breezy 80 to 100 meters above sea level. This consistency is perfect for locking in moisture even in drought vintages. The wine is fermented in oak, but no malolactic fermentation occurs, and the wine instead rests on the fine lees with frequent stirring. Orchard fruits and Cavaillon melon give the wine a sturdy center of gravity. Some 5,000 bottles were made, and this wine was released in April 2020. ML

Although its reputation precedes it, the drought vintage of 2017 was perhaps saved by a drop in temperature during harvest, which Ornellaia's estate director, Axel Heinz says was actually cooler than during harvest in 2018 and 2019. The wine lacks the acidity found in the other vintages of Ornellaia Bianco, however this is offset by a focus and richness to the peachy fruit (aided by 9% Viognier) and some lovely tangy minerality, finishing with some delicate nougat and coconut notes. Perhaps as a result of the vintage conditions, ageing time was reduced to no more than 12 months (previously up to 18 months) in order to produce a more aromatic profile. This shorter ageing regime has remained in subsequent vintages. The individual base wines were fermented in barriques (30% new) with no malolactic fermentation before ageing with occasional batonnage. A final three months on steel was completed before blending and bottling. Drinking Window: 2022 - 2030
Tasted by: James Button (at London, 11 Oct 2022)
Part of Ornellaia Bianco: A link to the past