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Masseto 1998

Ornellaia, Tuscany, Italy

Ornellaia
Tuscany Italy
  • 95
    Points
  • The 1 165 best
    of 3 290 954
    wines globally
  • 8 Pros of
    8 recommend
    this wine
296 95
  • Taste
  • Moment

  • Country ranking ?

    156

  • Producer ranking ?

    33

  • Decanting time

    3h

  • When to drink

    now to 2035

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The Story

Masseto was born ‘almost by chance’ in 1986 when it was decided to vinify the Merlot from the Masseto vineyard alone as it ‘promised well’. This small, exceptional and legendary cru has soon become a collector’s item sold in auctions all over the world. The first vintage was called very simply ‘Merlot’ but, from 1987, it has taken on the name of its vineyard ‘Masseto’.

The Masseto vineyard is a unique place. Blessed with the generosity of a...

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Wine Information

Climate and Harvest 1998
The end of Winter and beginning of Spring were mild favouring an early budding of the vines. Flowering took place at the end of May followed by a uniform setting of the berry. The Summer months were very hot and dry reaching, at times, temperatures well above average.
The vintage saw very little rainfall (only 450 mm in the whole year) with average humidity levels. The ‘veraison’ took place in mid July in a very unif...

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Tasting note

color

Medium and Ruby red

ending

Long

flavors

Blackberry, Licorice, Vanilla, Coffee, Cedar and Earthy

nose

Open

recommend

Yes

taste

High alcohol content, Complex, Well-structured, Full-bodied, Ripe and Full

Written Notes

Moderately intense ruby colour. Open, complex and developing nose with raw coffee, cedar and earthy aromas combined with ripe blackberry notes. A full-bodied, extracted taste with refined ripe tannins. Very intense, with ripe dark fruit and a well-balanced, pronounced oak character that stands up with vanilla flavours. The long finish is highlighted by alcohol and glycerine with liquorice flavours in the aftertaste.
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  • 90p

A dark, seamless beauty, the 1998 Masseto is off the charts. This is such a remarkable bottle. At twenty years of age, the 1998 is still very young, but its exotic beauty and sheer opulence make it such a pleasure to drink and taste on this evening. The very hot, dry year yielded a sumptuous, bold wine with tons of depth that really emerges with time in the glass. What a wine!

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  • 98p

A massive and deeply impressing wine which is a wonderful combination of maturity and freshness. The colour is dark purple red with a slight brick red hue. The nose convinces with an aroma reminiscent of juicy plums, ripe blackberries, fresh figs, aromatic mulberries and hints of Vanilla in the background. On the palate the wine shows an opulent taste with velvety tannins and an elegant freshness. A wine with impressing length and great potential. 100/100

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  • 100p
A clear, medium-intensity ruby red colour. The extremely open nose is layered and has a hint of maturity: herbal, raw coffee, cedar, earth notes. In the full-bodied and concentrated palate medium acids working together with slightly rounded, ripe tannins and an intense fruitiness establish an outstanding structure for the wine. There are liquorice, oak and blackcurrant notes, and the addition of vanilla in the finish. The ample alcohol is nicely integrated and gives the wine a glycerolic roundness. In the words of Serena Sutcliffe, a majestic wine. This wine is ready to drink right now, but will mature nicely over the next ten years.
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  • 94p
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Information

Origin

Bolgheri, Tuscany

Other wines from this producer

La Serre Nuove dell'Ornellaia

Le Serre Nuove dell'Ornellaia

Le Volte dell'Ornellaia

Le Volte dell’Ornellaia

Massetino

Ornellaia

Ornellaia Bianco

Ornus dell’Ornellaia

Poggio alle Gazze dell'Ornellaia

Inside Information

In the Cellar 
Apr 2007		 Antonio Galloni 93 Drink: 2008 - 2018 $641-$965
The 1998 Masseto is another wine that is drinking particularly well today. It is opulent and expansive on the palate, where it offers plenty of ripe dark fruit along with more advanced notes of tobacco, showing much length and style although the tannins finish slightly hard and dry. 93/Anticipated maturity: 2008-2018. 

The 100% Merlot Masseto, on the other hand, has proven to be a wine of greater singularity. Its unique, unmistakable personality always comes through, especially in a set of widely diverse vintages, as this vertical attests. The Masseto vineyard measures roughly 7 hectares. Set on a gently sloping hill, the vineyard is divided into three sections which contain different clay-based soil types. The structure of Masseto comes from the central portion of the vineyard (Masseto Centrale), where the terrain is most compact. Towards the upper part of the hillside (Masseto Alto) the soils contain a higher percentage of rocks and thus yield wines that are more aromatic. The lower stretch of the vineyard, known as “Masseto Junior,” is also the most recent to be planted. According to Raspini the fruit from these vines bridges the qualities of the wines from the central and upper portions of the vineyard and thus serves to give Masseto its finesse and balance. There is also a small amount of fruit that comes from the “Vigna Vecchia” plot which is the source of the Merlot that is used for Ornellaia.

Each parcel is harvested and vinified separately. Fermentation and maceration typically last around 25 days, give or take, depending on the quality of the fruit, after which the wines are moved into 100% new French oak barrels for the malolactic fermentations. The wines spend 12 months in oak prior to being assembled, after which the final blend spends an additional 12 months in oak prior to being bottled.

Tenuta dell’Ornellaia is without question one of Italy’s blue-chip properties. The gorgeous, sprawling estate is located in Bolgheri in Tuscany’s Maremma. On a recent visit I had the opportunity to taste a number of the estate’s wines with General Manager/Agronomist Leonardo Raspini and Oenologist Axel Heinz, including verticals of the estate’s top bottlings Ornellaia and Masseto.
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