Winemaker Notes
Ornellaia Bianco 2023 is a bright, light-yellow wine with delicate green nuances. Complex aromas include exotic fruit, grapefruit peel and peach flower underscored by subtle roasted hazelnut notes that add elegance and depth. The wine is generous to taste, with a density that lends roundness. On the palate, a refreshing and savory backbone provides perfect balance and tautness, resulting in an enduring finish with intense minerality that amplifies the overall experience.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
A supercomplex wine in a white-Bordeaux style with cedar, firecrackers, lemon tree, white pepper and stony minerality. Medium- to full-bodied, tight-knit and deep, offering silky texture, refreshing acidity, a savory palate and an endless, toasty yet integrated finish. Drink or hold.
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Decanter
Ornellaia owns 13 hectares of white varieties, and this 100% Sauvignon Blanc is sourced from the prime Bellaria vineyard at around 100 metres above sea level on limestone soils. ‘An original expression of this grape variety’, is how Marco Balsimelli describes it. Well balanced and very fresh, it has good body and plenty of energy, with ripe notes of guava, apricot and mango. The oak vinification with batonnage lends a creamy tone and texture but it remains poised throughout, with a sapid, mineral finish.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Made with Sauvignon Blanc, the 2023 Bolgheri Bianco Ornellaia shows a softer more cushiony profile than recent editions. The Sauvignon Blanc is sourced primarily from the Bellaria vineyard at 130 meters in elevation. Parcel selection played a key role in 2023, with Poggio alle Gazze dell'Ornellaia showing more exotic fruit, and the estate choose to emphasize a distinctly Mediterranean expression with riper yellow fruit tones for this wine. Fermentation is carried out with great precision with strict protection from oxygen, followed by time in barrique, with about 30% new French oak, tonneaux and amphorae. The wine ages for 10 months on the fine lees with daily bâtonnage at first, then gradually reduced. This vintage outperforms the 2022 in terms of length and polish, offering notes of white pepper, ginger, lemon peel, exotic flower and spice. This wine is scheduled for release in March 2026.
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Vinous
The 2023 Ornellaia Bianco opens with brilliant, sculpted aromatics. Citrus peel, slate, sage, crushed rocks, mint and white pepper lend notable freshness throughout. Sauvignon Blanc is so expressive here. Tropical and saline notes develop in the glass, adding freshness as the wine also gains a measure of volume. This is beautifully rendered and a far better bottle than the one I tasted a few months ago.
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Wine Spectator
This is refined and elegant, boasting pineapple, peach, jasmine and wild herb flavors. Firms up on the finish, with a touch of grapefruit pith and a salty aftertaste. Drink now through 2032.
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.