Ornellaia (3 Liter Bottle) 2012
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Suckling
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Robert - Decanter
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Product Details
Your Rating
Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
Composition: 56% Cabernet Sauvignon - 27% Merlot - 10% Cabernet Franc - 7% Petit Verdot
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
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.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
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.
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Decanter
2012 was an extremely dry yet sound vintage where the awareness of making less extracted and more balanced wines was employed. If the style is more overt, with ripe but not jammy bramble fruits, it doesn’t lack a muffled nose of straw, fresh pipe tobacco and macerated flowers. On the palate this Ornellaia is full and powerful with big, creamy tannins and a chalky, woody finish, underlined by firm acidity most likely emphasised by the drought.
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Wine Spectator
Features complex aromas of dark fruit and spice right out of the gate, with intense flavors of rich black cherry, blueberry and spice. The firm yet fine tannins add support as this builds to a long finish and aftertaste. Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Petit Verdot and Cabernet Franc. Better than previously reviewed. Best from 2018 through 2032.
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In 1981, Marchese Lodovico Antinori breathed new life into Tenuta dell' Ornellaia, an estate whose potential had been ignored for decades. With the help of Andre Tchelistcheff, the famous agronomist, Antinori planted the first French vines in Bolgheri, which lies in the heart of Tuscany's coastal region, Maremma. The estate yields some of the finest Sangiovese, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Cabernet Franc in Tuscany. In 2002, Marchesi de' Frescobaldi and Robert Mondavi became owners of Tenuta dell'Ornellaia, which is now owned exclusively by Marchesi de' Frescobaldi.
Ornellaia has established itself among the iconic wine estates in Italy (and beyond). The estate is dedicated to producing charming and opulent wines, full of Mediterranean character and finesse, reflecting the estate’s unique terroir in Bolgheri on the Tuscan coast. The combination of Bolgheri’s unique soils and growing conditions, and what can only be characterized as a total obsession with excellence, result in the world-class wines from Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Sauvignon Blanc that so many wine lovers across the world have come to cherish.
Ornellaia employs a full time team of 80 people whose passion and motivation make Ornellaia what it is today. No shortcuts in the part of the production are allowed and the details literally come down to a grape by grape basis. Wines are intently crafted to capture the character of each vintage, in all its complexity and facets. In fact, the character and intricacies of each individual vintage are so important to the estate that since vintage 2006, Winemaker and Estate Director Axel Heinz has identified a single word that captures the character of each vintage, and that word is interpreted by a contemporary artist who produces special labels and a site-specific work of art that remains part of the estate’s permanent collection.
In addition to its place among Italy’s iconic wines, Ornellaia is also an ambassador for the Bolgheri region, leading it to be recognized as one of Italy’s greatest winegrowing regions. It is their belief, and it is hard to argue, that Bogheri’s mild maritime climate and diversity of soils create wines as distinct, complex and pleasurable as any in the world.
One of the world’s most classic and popular styles of red wine, Bordeaux-inspired blends have spread from their homeland in France to nearly every corner of the New World. Typically based on either Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot and supported by Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petit Verdot, the best of these are densely hued, fragrant, full of fruit and boast a structure that begs for cellar time. Somm Secret—Blends from Bordeaux are generally earthier compared to those from the New World, which tend to be fruit-dominant.
An outstanding wine region made famous by Marchese Mario Incisa della Rocchetta, who planted Cabernet Sauvignon vines for his own consumption in 1940s on his San Guido estate, and called the resulting wine, Sassicaia. Today the region’s Tuscan reds are based on Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, which can be made as single varietal wines or blends. The local Sangiovese can make up no more than 50% of the blends. Today Sassicaia has its own DOC designation within the Bogheri DOC appellation.