MASSETO 2017

Masseto 2017

“The Masseto 2017 Masseto puts on another exhilarating, knock-out performance for the third year in a row. The Masseto vineyard is a triangular-shaped plot tucked in at the back of the same property that houses the Ornellaia vineyards and winery. This special site is located at the base of the mountains that rise gently from the Tyrrhenian Sea, with the picturesque silhouette of the Castiglioncello castle at the top. The vines are planted at an altitude of 80 to 100 meters above sea level in blue clay soils that are unique to Bolgheri. That ideal position opens the vineyards to soft breezes, proximity to the sea, long daylight hours and cool diurnal shifts from the protective wall of low mountains at the back. It’s a little garden of Merlot Eden. The center of the vineyard now is home to the new Masseto winery and an adjacent tasting room built into a pre-existing farmhouse. This wine was made in the old winery (the existing Ornellaia winery). Fermentation kicks off in a combination of steel and oak tanks before the wine is racked over to barrique, where it rests for two years. The wine then goes into bottle for 12 months before its release. Like most vintages of Masseto tasted this early in the game, the oak is omnipresent, and it grounds the wine in terms of texture and structure. It is powerful, but that’s always the case with Masseto (this vintage records a 15.5% alcohol content). I tasted this wine next to the decidedly more playful Massetino, and the Masseto moves over the palate with substantial fruit weight and concentration gained over the course of this hot and dry growing season (which produced smaller, richer and more compact berries). Perhaps, what this vintage lacks is that profound varietal character that we saw in recent vintages like 2016 and 2015. If concerned that the hot vintage would draw out too many ripe fruit tones, the oak serves to soften some of the more volatile components of the fruit. Those distinctive notes of macchia mediterranea (wild bush) that I always associate with Masseto are less present in this vintage. You feel the oak tannins on the finish with toast and vanilla that will certainly shed as the wine ages. In fact, I went back to taste the wine 12 hours later, and they had already softened considerably.” – 97/100, Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate

VARIETIES: 100% Merlot
REGION: Italy / Central Italy / Toscana
AGEING: Malolactic fermentation began in 100% new oak barrique barrels, while keeping the various lots separate for the first 12 months of ripening. Subsequently, the wine was blended and reintroduced once again into the barrels for another year, for a total of 24 months
GUARDING POTENTIAL: Enjoy now or will cellar well up to 30 years
SERVE: Serve at 16 – 18ºC
FITS TO: Pair it with a Juicy Rib-eye, Slow-roasted Beef with Vegetables, Vincisgrassi or a Wild Boar Ragout with Cinnamon & Cloves
CRITICS SCORES: 98/JS, 97/RP, 97/D, 96/JD, 95/WS
VIVINO: Average 4.7 ★★★★✰

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2017 | Vintage | Masseto

2017 will be remembered as one of the hottest and driest vintages in recent history.

Due to an unusually mild winter with temperatures 3°C above average, budbreak occurred two weeks earlier than usual. Apart from a brief period of cold weather towards the end of April, the entire growing season was dominated by warm and dry weather, leading to a reduced development of the canopy. Flowering and fruit set went well, but due to the lack of water cluster and berry sizes stayed small.

July and August stayed hot and virtually without rain, but fortunately with sufficiently cool nights to allow the vines to recover from the heat and continue to ripen the fruit without shutting down, maintaining excellent levels of acidity in the grapes.

Harvest started early and was the fastest ever, only three days of picking between the 24th and 30th August. Given the particular conditions, the grapes were picked rather by vine age than by single vineyard, yielding only four different lots.