ORNELLAIA 2021

Description

Antonio Galloni 99 points www.vinous.com (February 2024)
The 2021 Ornellaia captures all the magic of this sensational vintage on the Tuscan Coast. Rich, ample and expansive, with tremendous polish, the 2021 is pure class. Dark-toned fruit, mocha, espresso, licorice, plum and dried herbs abound. The tannins are present but also beautifully integrated, as is the French oak. There was a time not too long ago when young wines here needed years in bottle to drink well. That’s not at all the case with the 2021. The blend of 53% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% Merlot, 15% Cabernet Franc and 7% Petit Verdot works so well. New oak was 70%. 2027-2051

The 2021 Ornellaia is every bit as impressive as the components were when I tasted them during a visit to the property in September 2022. Harvest started early, in the last days of August, and then continued for several weeks. It’s a vintage with very high extract, more than even years like 2006, and yet the wine feels incredibly finessed, the result of gentler extraction overall and a lighter hand with oak. The last few years have seen a clear move towards complementing and balancing the natural opulence of Bolgheri rather than emphasizing it – as was sometimes the case in the past – and it shows. The Bianco, 100% Sauvignon Blanc, is also terrific.

James Buton 97 points (at Bolgheri 2021 Tasting, 67 Pall Mall, London, 28 Feb 2024)
While the summer was hot and dry, with three months of drought, the vines’ roots were able to tap water reserves which had been topped up by rainfall the previous winter and spring. Despite the warm growing season, Ornellaia 2021 feels less dense and muscular than vintages of old, offering pretty floral and wild herb perfumes alongside ripe red and black fruit scents. It’s intense, fresh and vertical in character, with fine, ripe, round tannins that seem to be a trademark of the vintage – it’s a gorgeous, breezy iteration of the Bolgheri benchmark that is already drinking well. The blend is 53% Cabernet Sauvignon (up from 50% in 2020), 25% Merlot (down from 32%), 15% Cabernet Franc (up from 13%) and 7% Petit Verdot (up from 5%); a carefully considered response from the winemaking team to the increasingly warm summers in the region.

Monica Larner 96 points www.erobertparker.com
The Ornellaia 2021 Bolgheri Superiore Ornellaia offers an extra layer of richness, generosity and plushness that shapes a very open-knit and exuberant Tuscan red. The blend is 53% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% Merlot, 15% Cabernet Franc and 7% Petit Verdot. You feel the fruit and oak weight of the wine, the extract and the 15% alcohol content. All of these elements come together to big effect. From that power, you get black cherry, dark fruit, sweet spice and barbecue smoke. The fruit tannins are young, and this edition of Ornellaia proves worthy for medium or long-term drinking, especially as it softens up with more bottle age.