Masseto 2019

Created in 1988 by Lodovico Antinori (founder of Ornellaia) Masseto is a pure Merlot that has conquered the wine world, as it has surpassed the finest French and Californian Merlots in a blind tasting made in Switzerland. The vineyard from which the Masseto grapes come is located in Bolgheri and has a very particular soil: it is a block of blue clay similar to the soils of Pomerol in Bordeaux. In these conditions and with the mild climate of the Tuscan coast, the grapes are able to enrich themselves with aromatic and phenolic substances in an exceptional way. Masseto's global success prompted the current owners of Ornellaia (Frescobaldi) to build a cellar dedicated to this wine with a wonderful architectural project. Masseto is more than a wine, it is a luxury item and is one of the few Italian wines listed on the London stock exchange.

2019 was a year characterised by particularly variable weather, alternating between periods of cold and rain and long dry and hot spells. The 2019 harvest took place slightly later than usual, allowing the grapes to benefit from the sunny and mild weather at the beginning of September.

The care of the vineyard is meticulous and the harvest is manual; only the best bunches of Merlot are selected to make Masseto through a double sorting table. Alcoholic fermentation takes place partly in steel vats, part in concrete and part in oak vats. Considering the small size of the berries of the 2017 harvest, pumping over was limited to favor a delicate extraction of only the noblest substances and the fermentation temperature was kept constant at 25 ° C. The total maceration lasted 21 days. The wine then underwent malolactic fermentation in barrique and was aged in new barriques for a total of 24 months. Finally, the wine aged one more year in the bottle before being put on the market.