Winemaker Notes
The Ornellaia 2017 masterfully interprets what was a particularly warm and sunny year. The intense and dark color heralds a wine of beautiful concentration; the nose, rich and complex, releases scents of ripe red fruits, accompanied by notes of sweet tobacco and vanilla. The taste reveals an Ornellaia of great balance, a combination of firmness and pleasant freshness.
Blend: 56% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% Merlot, 10% Petit Verdot, 9% Cabernet Franc
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
A big, rich wine for the vintage, yet poised and lively with firm, chewy tannins that give form and intensity to the wine. It shows loads of blackberry, blackcurrant and walnut flavors. Ripe yet polished tannins. Give this three or four years to come together.
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Decanter
In 2017 the production of Ornellaia (a blend of 56% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% Merlot, 10% Petit Verdot and 9% Cabernet Franc) was reduced by 15% due to the heat. Known as one of the most powerful and long-lived wines from Bolgheri, it doesn’t deceive its style. The estate was one of the few able to wait out the rain of mid-September to harvest the late-ripening varieties such as Cabernet Sauvignon. Vinous first due to an extremely youthful cassis fruit character, it's crunchy and extracted on the palate with a cedar wood flavour, crisp acidity and plenty of tannins. It flows to a ripe finish, warming yet balanced. It’s not properly ready to drink yet but it will develop complexity with ageing. From 1-9 September 2020, Sotheby’s will be hosting the online auction of the large formats of Ornellaia Vendemmia d’Artista 2017, whose proceeds will be donated to the 'Mind’s Eye' program created by the educational department of the Guggenheim Foundation.
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Jeb Dunnuck
From a hot vintage in Bolgheri, the 2017 Ornellaia is a blend of 56% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% Merlot, and the rest close to an even split of Petit Verdot and Cabernet Franc that spent 18 months in French oak. It doesn't match the 2016, but it’s a beautiful wine offering complex notes of red and black fruits, chocolate, roasted herbs, licorice, and dried earth. This carries to a full-bodied Ornellaia with a rich, concentrated mid-palate, ripe, mouthcoating tannins, and a great finish. It shows the dry, hot vintage yet stays lively and holds onto a sense of elegance. I followed this bottle for multiple days and it only improved with air. This is a beautiful, elegant Ornellaia that will evolve for 30-40 years or more.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
This vintage of Ornellaia is called Solare and represents the 12th edition in the estate's Vendemmia d'Artista series featuring artwork by Tomás Saraceno. His beautiful art depicts a radiant sun halo and is intended as a symbol of sustainability. That theme of sunshine and warmth is particularly well suited to a vintage such as this. The Ornellaia 2017 Bolgheri Superiore Ornellaia is generous and fruit-forward with dense richness and concentration all driven by the smaller and more compact berry size that characterizes this dry, hot growing season. Black and purple fruits segue to spice, tobacco, leather and some of those beautiful Mediterranean notes of black olive and wild sage. These various moving pieces work together in perfect harmony. The tannins are beautifully managed here. If you consider the more astringent and rougher approach of the mid-tier Le Serre Nuove dell'Ornellaia, this wine shows a whole other level of magnificent tannic management that could not have been easy given the diminutive berry size. This vintage sees a blend of 56% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% Merlot, 10% Petit Verdot and 9% Cabernet Franc. The vineyard soils are characterized by reddish sand with calcareous rock. The wine is fermented in both stainless steel and cement and is transferred over to barrique to finish malolactic fermentation. It ages in barrique for 18 months followed by another 12 months in bottle.
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Wine Spectator
Though well-oaked, this features ample black cherry, plum and loam flavors to match the vanilla and sweet spice elements. Harmonious and accessible at this young stage, but will be better in a few years once the components harmonize. Vibrant and long. Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot. Best from 2022 through 2038.
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.