ORNELLAIA 'LE SERRE NUOVE DELL'ORNELLAIA' BOLGHERI ROSSO 2020
| Grape: | 44% Merlot, 30% Cabernet Sauvignon, 13% Cabernet Franc, 13% Petit Verdot |
| Vineyard: | Ornellaia |
| Origin: | Tuscany, Italy |
| ABV%: | 14.5% |
| Colour: | Intense ruby red |
| Aromas: | Full of fresh notes of ripe red fruits, accompanied by a lively balsamic vein with aromatic hints of cypress and eucalyptus berries |
| Flavours: | The wine is soft and silky in the mouth, filling it with an elegant tannic texture and a sapid and persistent finish. |
Made with the same passion and attention to detail we dedicate to Ornellaia, Le Serre Nuove dell'Ornellaia is a real “second vin”. A blend of Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot which combines immediate pleasantness and taste-olfactory complexity with a proven ageing potential.
2020 Vintage
After a mild and rainy winter, March saw a temporary drop in temperatures with a few nights below 0 Celsius right at the start of budding, in the last week of the month. However, the newly blossomed shoots were still protected by the cottony bud tissue, which made it possible to avoid damage from the frost. The rest of the spring saw generally warm weather with normal rainfall, ensuring regular vegetative development until flowering which took place between 20 and 25 May. In June a passage of rain of great intensity towards the middle of the month was followed by a very long period of drought with substantial absence of rain and torrid temperatures until the end of August.
The veraison took place evenly and quickly between 20 and 25 July, starting the ripening of the grapes under a burning sun. At the end of August, the rains arrived which led to a considerable drop in temperatures, with night-time lows of up to 13 Celsius, ideal conditions for completing the maturation of the Merlots. Their harvest took place in just two weeks to preserve freshness and fruitiness as much as possible, just in time to avoid a sudden heat wave in which the thermometer reached 37 degrees, causing sugar levels to soar for all the varieties still to be harvest, leading to the start of harvesting the Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon from the sound vineyards as early as 17 September. Towards the end of September a rainy passage finally brought the climatic conditions back to normal, the water absorbed by the bunches lowered the alcohol content back to normal values, allowing for the conclusion of the Cabernet Sauvignon and Petit Verdot harvest on 3 October.
Winemaking Highlights
The harvest took place by hand in 15 kg boxes and the bunches were selected on a double sorting table before and after destemming and subjected to soft pressing at the end. Since 2016, in addition to manual selection, optical selection has been introduced to further increase the quality of the selection. Each variety and parcel was minified separately. The alcoholic fermentation took place partly in stainless steel vats, partly in cement vats, at temperatures between 22-28 Celsious for two weeks, followed by maceration for about 10-15 days. The malolactic fermentation took place in steel vats, then the wines were transferred into barriques (25% new and 75% second passage). The wine remained in barriques in the Ornellaia cellar at the controlled temperature for about 15 months. After the first 12 months, the assembly was carried out and then reintroduced into the barriques where it spent another 3 months. The wine remains in the bottle for six months before being released to the market.