Winemaker Notes
This fine white wine displays a straw yellow hue with golden reflections in the glass. Considerable complexity is conveyed on the nose with notes such as apricots and acacia flowers alongside roasted hazelnuts and spices. This refreshing wine is rich in flavors and aromas and is at once savory and full-bodied as well as carrying a long aromatic finish.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Super-restrained nose here with candied lemon and lemon bush, tuberose, peach kernel and integrated toastiness. Full body with amazing weight and concentration, yet with vibrant, lemony flavor, zesty and integrated acidity and a warming but balanced finish.
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Decanter
For the first time, Ornellaia Bianco becomes a Bolgheri DOC wine in the 2021 vintage. It's again 100% Sauvignon Blanc, vinfied in a mixture of 300L and 500L amphorae, barriques and tonneaux, with only 25% new wood. Perfumed, exotic, stony and honeyed, it's nonetheless a vertical and focussed wine, its structure constraining rich aromas and flavours of mango, peach, white flowers, orange peel, papaya and passion fruit. It does feel like it's being held back, with a touch of austerity and that stony, mineral authority that makes it a necessity to drink with food. ‘It has much more vibrancy than in the past...a better defined character than when the project began,’ notes Marco Balsimelli.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Previously a blend of Sauvignon Blanc and Viognier, the Ornellaia 2021 Ornellaia Bianco is now all Sauvignon Blanc. The estate recently planted Semillon, so it is possible that we will one day see that grape in the blend (especially because it is known to thrive in hot vintages). This wine plays its best cards in terms of texture. It sports broad shoulders and enough texture to support those many creamy citrus and delicately tropical flavors. A dusting of crushed stone adds elegance. The wine should show its best results in five to 10 years from now.
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Vinous
The 2021 Ornellaia Bianco is alluring. I sense a bit more textural richness vis-à-vis prior editions, a positive in my book. White pear, jasmine, sage, mint, white pepper, peach and apricot fill out the layers. Light tropical accents appear with some aeration, adding a tropical flair that is quite attractive.
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Wine Spectator
Verging on creamy in texture, this silky white features floral, peach, sage and mint flavors, with a flash of grapefruit pith. Complex, balanced and long, with a salty component on the persistent aftertaste. Sauvignon Blanc. Drink now through 2030. 100 cases imported.
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.
Sometimes light and crisp, other times rich and creamy, Bordeaux White Blends typically consist of Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon. Often, a small amount of Muscadelle or Sauvignon Gris is included for added intrigue. Popularized in Bordeaux, the blend is often mimicked throughout the New World. Somm Secret—Sauternes and Barsac are usually reserved for dessert, but they can be served before, during or after a meal. Try these sweet wines as an aperitif with jamón ibérico, oysters with a spicy mignonette or during dinner alongside hearty Alsatian sausage.
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.