New Super-Tuscan Stocks: Masseto, Sassicaia and Ornellaia
We are delighted to offer a small selection of icon Super-Tuscans, all of which have just arrived in our UK cellars. With scores of up to 100 points from the critics, these cases of Masseto, Sassicaia and Ornellaia are representative of the best of modern Italian winemaking and will drink beautifully for decades.
From 2015, I have two superb wines. The 100-point 2015 Masseto is a legend in the making and for Monica Larner takes some of the best aspects of some great past vintages and “confines those qualities to this single, spectacular bottle”. Its stablemate, Ornellaia, is also special in 2015 and, for Antonio Galloni, “is a dream wine with magnificent balance. All the elements are in the right place”. We have some rare and collectable large formats.
From 2016, we have a perfect vintage of Tuscany’s most famous red, Sassicaia. For Larner, this is “a wine of soaring achievement” and “stands tall next to the epic 1985 vintage that set the ultimate benchmark for vino italiano”. We have five well-priced cases to offer.
Details are below. Do take a look and let us know if you would like to secure any of these cases.
2015 Masseto
£2,050 per case (3*75cl OWC) in bond – 4 cases available
£1,550 per mag (1*150cl OWC) in bond – 2 available
100 points Monica Larner
The release of this wine comes at a very happy time for the Masseto brand. The stunning 2015 Masseto is hitting the market just as the final touches are being made to the new Masseto winery. I’m told that Masseto might one day see other wines made under that same roof, so we can’t exclude a future enlargement of the Masseto portfolio. The Masseto vineyard now covers seven hectares (divided into three plots), and the vines range from 30 to 40 years old. The wine is absolutely teeming with sensorial spirit that is transmitted through the bounty of the bouquet and the solid tannins of the mouthfeel. Nothing about the wine goes unnoticed or unchecked. Its many working pieces fit together with precision like a well-oiled machine. The 2015 vintage is characterized by a level of sheer exuberance that also defined the 2004 and 2007 vintages. Yet, it also reveals similar power, directness and linearity that we saw in the 2010 vintage. The 2015 Masseto takes the best of all those past vintages and confines those qualities to this single, spectacular bottle. (2018) www.robertparker.com Drink 2020-2050
2015 Ornellaia
£345 per magnum (1*150cl OWC) in bond – 3 available
£800 per 3L double magnum (1*300cl OWC) in bond – 2 available
98 points Antonio Galloni
The 2015 Ornellaia is a dream wine with magnificent balance. All the elements are in the right place. In most vintages, Ornellaia needs time to fully come together, but the 2015 is just impeccable, even in the early going. The warm vintage notwithstanding, winemaker Axel Heinz crafted and Ornellaia is more about finesse and power. The potent, bruising tannins Ornellaia can show as a young wine are nowhere to be found. Bright raspberry jam, mint, white flowers and pomegranate are some of the many notes that punctuate the finish in a memorable Ornellaia that will go down among the great vintages produced at this reference-point estate. (2018) www.vinous.com Drink 2023-2040
2016 Sassicaia
£1,800 per case (6*75cl OWC) in bond – 5 cases available
100 points Monica Larner
The 2016 Bolgheri Sassicaia is a wine of soaring achievement. I tasted this wine several times during the course of its creation in both barrel and bottle, and the highly deserved 100-point score you see here was enthusiastically assigned at the conclusion of a mini vertical in which I tasted and compared the 2016 vintage against 2015 (which I scored 97 points). It makes perfect sense to present these two excellent vintages in back-to-back comparison fashion because they are two of the best to emerge from Bolgheri, and indeed Tenuta San Guido, in recent memory. These are very similar vintages with long, hot summer months that fueled a long growing season. There was a bit more rain in 2016, and in analytical terms this vintage has a tad more acidity. However, the results in the glass are extraordinarily different. The 2015 vintage is exuberant, round, succulent and immediate, whereas the 2016 vintage shows pinpoint sharpness and precision (with similar grit and texture at the back). That acidity will carry it long into the future as the wine completes its slow evolutionary course. This wine is chiseled and sharp with blackberry, ripe cherry, grilled herb and barbecue spice. The aromas flow from the glass in a continuous stream and are all marked by radiant intensity. The mouthfeel is long and powerful. The crisp linearity of the wine’s tannic backbone is perfectly measured to the volume and depth of the fruit flavors. To my mind, the 2016 Sassicaia stands tall next to the epic 1985 vintage that set the ultimate benchmark for vino italiano. (2019) www.robertparker.com Drink 2021-2050
Offered subject to final confirmation. Available from our UK cellars. Offer expires 16th August.
