2016 Tenuta dell'Ornellaia, Ornellaia 2016 3000ml

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Critic Reviews

98 POINTS

Monica Larner - Wine Advocate

The 2016 Bolgheri Superiore Ornellaia is a wine of extreme complexity and precision. It offers monumental depth with profound layers of black fruit, coffee, licorice and baking chocolate. I tasted this 2016 vintage beside the less-impactful 2015 vintage (which was reviewed last year). These two editions are very different when compared side to side, and this 2016 release is clearly superior in terms of the quality, clarity and intensity of its offerings. This Ornellaia delivers glossy shine and a polished texture that segues to important richness, concentration and textural fiber. It wraps thickly over the palate, imparting waves of sweet dark fruit and dark spice that linger for many long minutes. This beautiful wine is hitting the market now, but collectors will want to put it straight into their cellars for safekeeping.

98 POINTS

James Suckling

An astoundingly vibrant, powerful and concentrated Ornellaia that has a wealth of intense dark cherries, mulberries and plums with hints of espresso, dark cocoa powder and cedar. The concentrated palate is framed in long, regal tannins that bring focus to the plush, ripe and fresh black cherries and dark plums. Extremely balanced. Best from 2025.

97 POINTS

Richard Baudains - Decanter

An Ornellaia vintage of subdued power, but also great elegance and a certain souplesse which hints at a stylistic evolution at the estate. Plum-pudding and cherry brandy nose, broad palate with feather-cushion tannins and a long and voluptuous finish.

97 POINTS

Aldo Fiordelli - Decanter

Ornellaia 2016 is a top example of this estate in Bolgheri and its legendary longevity will not betray it. Less extracted than in the past, it's more restrained yet perfectly ripe and with a great intensity of aromas. It opens up with spicy notes of clove and nutmeg, followed by brambly fruit and a kind of iodine mineral character in depth, finishing with an amazing length of tobacco. The super-fine, oaky style needs time to integrate with the firm yet velvety tannins and refreshing acidity.

96 POINTS

Wine Spectator

Black currant, plum, cedar, lead pencil and toasty, spicy elements highlight this intense red. Muscular tannins line the extended finish, leaving a peppery impression. The parts are all there but need time to integrate. Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot. Best from 2023 through 2043. 2,500 cases imported.

96 POINTS

Antonio Galloni MW - Vinous

Just bottled, the 2016 Ornellaia is a dense, powerful wine. Naturally, the 2016 is just at the beginning of its life, but I am struck by how polished the tannins are for such a young wine. Ornellaia is at its best starting around age ten, but there is little doubt the 2016 is a hugely promising wine. Black cherry, chocolate, plum, new leather and a range of spice notes all build into a veritable crescendo of aromas, flavors and textures.

95 POINTS

Kerin O'Keefe - Wine Enthusiast

Cedar, French oak and cassis aromas follow over to the vibrant palate along with coconut and dried black cherry. Racy acidity lends energy and youthful tension while firm fine-grained tannins offer elegant support. It's still young and primary so it give it time to fully develop. Drink 2024–2036.

Jancis Robinson MW

100% Sauvignon Blanc, hand-harvested during the last week of August in the early hours of the morning. Fermented in barriques – 30% new and 70% used at temperatures no higher than 22 °C. No malolactic fermentation was carried out. The ageing continued for 12 months on the lees with periodic bâtonnage and finished in stainless-steel vats for three more months. Aged in bottle for a further six months before release.Quite a deep colour. Lanolin nose and much more savoury and chewy than the 2017. Quite youthful, with quite a bit of chew. Ambitious! Score: 16.5+/20

Tasting Notes

Winemakers Notes

“2016 represents another immensely successful vintage highlighting all the virtues of Bolgheri’s climate: abundant
sunshine, without excessive heat, a dry summer to allow the grapes to achieve perfect ripeness and concentration, and just
about enough rain to avoid stress. All these elements combine to yield a wine that shows lush ripeness and crisp firmness,
opposing forces creating a sense of dense raciness we like to describe as “tension”.”
Axel Heinz – Estate Director
“A particularly dark and young colour is the prelude to a complex nose of black berries, spices and cedar. The palate is rich
and dense, balanced by a refined and firm tannic structure, lifted by a juicy and bright acidity.”
Olga Fusari – Winemaker – July 2018
THE CLIMATE OF 2016
As what seems to be becoming increasingly the norm, the winter of 2016 was characterized by abnormally warm
weather with heavy rainfall in February. Budbreak took place on time in the last week of March.
The abundance of water in the soil and the warm weather in April led to quick and normal vegetative vine
growth. Towards May temperatures returned to normal, slowing the growth down slightly, bringing about the
flowering which took place in the last week of May with dry sunny weather, perfect for a good fruit-set. The summer
was within the norm with very little rain favouring a notable water stress towards the end of the ripening stage.
The usual August holiday period storms were also absent, maintaining a state of hydric stress through the first part
of the harvest, but luckily with temperatures that significantly cooled off at night, allowing the vines to recover from
the daytime temperatures. Ripening went on steadily building up excellent phenolic potential and a balanced
sugar/acidity ratio. Harvest started early on the 24th August with young vine Merlot. By mid- September a few rain
showers arrived, that allowed to complete harvest under virtually perfect conditions, sunny, but moderately warm,
and enough water in the soil to prevent the vines from shutting down. Harvest was concluded on the 12th of October
with the last Cabernet Sauvignon and Petit Verdot.
VINIFICATION AND AGEING
The clusters were hand-picked into 15 kg boxes and then selected by hand on a double sorting table, before and
after destemming, and finally softly crushed. In 2016, optical sorting has been introduced in addition to manual selection,
in order to further increase the quality of selection. Each grape variety and single vineyard block was vinified separately.
Fermentation took place in stainless steel and concrete tanks at temperatures between 26-30°C for two weeks,
followed by 10-15 days of maceration on the skins. The malolacticfermentation took place mainly in oak barrels, 70%
new and 30% once-used. The wine then remained in barriques, in Ornellaia’s temperature- controlled cellars for about 20months.Afterthe first 12months of maturation, the wine was assembled and then returned to the barriques for an additional 8 months. After bottling, the wine aged a further 12 months prior to release.

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2016 Tenuta dell'Ornellaia, Ornellaia 2016 3000ml

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