2013  Le Ragnaie Brunello di Montalcino Fornace

"Le Ragnaie's 2013 Brunello di Montalcino Fornace is a slightly more robust and structured expression. It has a sturdier vinous exoskeleton, so to speak. For this reason, it needs longer to age and will undoubtedly benefit from more years in your cellar. In fact, I tasted this wine several times over the course of many hours and was delighted by the steady and positive evolution it showed. Given time, the wine gives wild berry and earthy tones that come together with encouraging symmetry." - 94pts WA

2016  

1990  

2002  Toscana IGT

2007  

Resting in off-site storage, please allow for, up to, 1 week prior to shipping.

2017  

The clarity of the ripe blackcurrants, black cherries and flowers in the nose is entrancing. Lavender, too. It’s full-bodied with firm, silky tannins that run long and straight through the wine, providing brightness and focus. Goes on for minutes. Strength with finesse Drink after 2024, but already wonderful to taste. - 98pts JS ---- The 2017 Masseto is a spectacular wine in the making. Rich and sumptuous in the glass, the 2017 possesses off the charts intensity and plenty of structure as well. Red cherry jam, mocha, leather, licorice and a dash of new oak are all fused together in an opulent, seamless Masseto endowed with magnificent balance. The 2017 is quite simply a remarkable wine for such a challenging year. I can't wait to taste it from bottle. - 96-99pts AG/Vin ---- The Masseto 2017 Masseto puts on another exhilarating, knock-out performance for the third year in a row. The Masseto vineyard is a triangular-shaped plot tucked in at the back of the same property that houses the Ornellaia vineyards and winery. This special site is located at the base of the mountains that rise gently from the Tyrrhenian Sea, with the picturesque silhouette of the Castiglioncello castle at the top. The vines are planted at an altitude of 80 to 100 meters above sea level in blue clay soils that are unique to Bolgheri. That ideal position opens the vineyards to soft breezes, proximity to the sea, long daylight hours and cool diurnal shifts from the protective wall of low mountains at the back. It's a little garden of Merlot Eden. The center of the vineyard now is home to the new Masseto winery and an adjacent tasting room built into a pre-existing farmhouse. This wine was made in the old winery (the existing Ornellaia winery). Fermentation kicks off in a combination of steel and oak tanks before the wine is racked over to barrique, where it rests for two years. The wine then goes into bottle for 12 months before its release. Like most vintages of Masseto tasted this early in the game, the oak is omnipresent, and it grounds the wine in terms of texture and structure. It is powerful, but that's always the case with Masseto (this vintage records a 15.5% alcohol content). I tasted this wine next to the decidedly more playful Massetino, and the Masseto moves over the palate with substantial fruit weight and concentration gained over the course of this hot and dry growing season (which produced smaller, richer and more compact berries). Perhaps, what this vintage lacks is that profound varietal character that we saw in recent vintages like 2016 and 2015. If concerned that the hot vintage would draw out too many ripe fruit tones, the oak serves to soften some of the more volatile components of the fruit. Those distinctive notes of macchia mediterranea (wild bush) that I always associate with Masseto are less present in this vintage. You feel the oak tannins on the finish with toast and vanilla that will certainly shed as the wine ages. In fact, I went back to taste the wine 12 hours later, and they had already softened considerably. This 2017 vintage will be released in October 2020. - 97pts WA

2017  Magnum

2007  

1997  

1999  

2015  

Nardo is 50% Montepulciano, 45% Sangiovese and 5% Marsellan -- "Montepulciano is blended with Sangiovese and Marselan to make up the 2015 Nardo. Compared to the other new releases from Montepeloso, this wine is more direct and vertical in terms of its aromatic presentation. The aromas rise from the glass with dark cherry, cassis and blackberry preserves. There is ample spice, tobacco and leather at the back. Those aromas help to create a sense of volume and weight. This is a beautiful wine from the sunny Tuscan Coast. " - 94pts WA

2014  Valferana

Valferana -- 95pts WS