TN: Masseto vertical (10 vintages)

Last night I had the pleasure of enjoying the company of @Dinesh_Goyal @Alex_Valdes @Jon_Lawrence @Dan_A and 4 non WB’s. I am sure they have more to share in this thread about their experience. It truly was a memorable tasting. I tried my best to document our evening, even when tasting notes are never my strong suit.

We tasted a Masseto vertical at Carbone Privato, which is upstairs at ZZ’s. We were joined by Alessandro Lunardi - the Masseto rep for NA. He made the tasting extra special as he was able to talk us through each of the vintages.

We began the evening with Champagne:

2012 Vilmart & Cie Champagne Premier Cru Blanc de Blancs Les Blanches Voies

  • Bright acidity, citrus fruits, lemon, kiwi. A bright and exciting start to the evening. It was lively and inviting. It served as the perfect wakeup wine to our palettes.

Krug Champagne Brut Grande Cuvée ~1980’s-ish

  • Gorgeous golden color. Clearly showing its age. Aromatic with pear, brioche, a hint of citrus, honeyed fruit, and lemon curd. The effervescence was minimal as expected.

As our appetizer course was beginning to be served, we began the first few flights of Masseto.

Appetizers - Mozzarella and peppers, beet salad, house salad, prosciutto and pear, and a few other things I am probably forgetting.

1993 Tenuta dell’Ornellaia Masseto Toscana IGT

  • Strong start to the vertical. Velvety mouth feel, dark fruits, licorice, gravel and underripe fruits. It was plush, well integrated, and length for days. The wine was in great shape, but I suspect it probably only has about 5 more years left before it will be on the decline.

1995 Tenuta dell’Ornellaia Masseto Toscana IGT

  • My second favorite wine of the night. Compared to the 93’, this had a lot more power. It was a warm vintage and the fragrance was that of a much younger wine. Dark cherries, plush, cigar ash, very aromatic, and quite tannic for a 29 year old wine.

1997 Tenuta dell’Ornellaia Masseto Toscana IGT

  • I think for most, this was the clear WOTN, myself included. Alessandro expressed that this bottle was the best 1997 he has ever had. I am happy we were all able to enjoy it together. Many of us agreed this wine was reminiscent of an aged cheval blanc. Bright red fruits, perfectly integrated, cigar ash, rustic, hints of plum, powerful yet plush and aromatic. This wine had everything you’d want in a nearly 30 year old wine. This was probably one of my favorite wines of the year. WOTN

Around this time our 2nd course came out. We had the classic carbone spicy rigatoni vodka and a plate of tortellini a ragu.

1998 Tenuta dell’Ornellaia Masseto Toscana IGT

  • Not as expressive as the 97’. This wine felt like it still needs another 10 years to be more approachable. It really shows the quality of the wine making at Masseto that a 26 year old wine could taste so young. Dark fruit and quite tannic. The fruit was ripe with a kind of sweet fruit experience on the tip of the tongue.

2001 Tenuta dell’Ornellaia Masseto Toscana IGT

  • The 2001 was interesting. A few hours had passed when we first tasted it. This wine felt big. It had ripe red fruit, warmth, immense power and vivacity. It has sweet fruit, slight truffliness (is that a word??) with pronounced oak. We had some left over in the decanter and about 2 hours later this wine had evolved and became significantly more approachable and exciting. This wine can age significantly longer.

2002 Tenuta dell’Ornellaia Masseto Toscana IGT

  • Compared to the first taste of the 2001, this wine was light and very approachable. It was agile. Gentle red fruits, licorice, and quite high acid. Very bright and well balanced.

Our main courses were served around this time. We had 50 day dry aged NY strip, freshly cut off the bone, whole branzino, and veal parm.

2005 Tenuta dell’Ornellaia Masseto Toscana IGT

  • Supple and ripe. Gentle, expressive, and slightly tannic. This wine was a monster. It had so much power you could tell it could age for many more years. Admittedly, the 2005 vintage is generally one of my favorite across various different wine regions. This wine was probably my 3rd favorite of the evening. I look forward to what this wine will express in the coming years.

2010 Tenuta dell’Ornellaia Masseto Toscana IGT

  • Typically I expect wines from the 2010 vintage to be big and powerful. This wine surprised many of us as it tasted much older than it was. Dark fruit, sweet fruit, clear indications of oak and medium grippy tannins. The length on this was impressive.

2017 Tenuta dell’Ornellaia Masseto Toscana IGT

  • I was expecting this wine to be big, but thankfully it was double decanted about 6 hours before we tasted it. The wine was eagerly waiting for us to enjoy it after the 6 or so hours. It was bright and fresh with lively acidity. Very expressive in the glass. It was warm, lifted, with red fruit and a pinch of spiciness.

2021 Tenuta dell’Ornellaia Masseto Toscana IGT

  • Currently the youngest available Masseto. Alessandro expressed this as the greatest recent vintage of Masseto. He said the estate fully expects it to be highly sought after and capable of aging for many decades. Clear indicators of oak. Chocolate, bright red fruit, and significant tannins. Jason, who was one of Jon’s guests expressed to me how the wine had a hint of “freshly opened plastic card packs.” He explained how when he was a kid he would open baseball card packs and I totally understood what he meant. It definitely had this fresh paper product out of a plastic container note… (in a good way!)

2022 Tenuta dell’Ornellaia Massetino Toscana IGT

  • Our last wine of the evening was the “baby Masseto” Massetino. It was bright with red fruits and high acidity. This wine is clearly aimed at being an easy wine that can be opened and enjoyed without necessarily needing to be aged like the other bottles of Masseto.

Overall this was a wonderful vertical tasting of Masseto. I look forward to our next tasting.

Edit: I forgot to add my photos.

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Great notes John. It was a wonderful evening made extra special by Alessandro’s play-by-play of each wine. Much better than sitting at home watching the Yankees choke. All I have to add is a few pictures.



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Great write up @J0hnEhrl1ng - the only thing I would note is this turned out to be a lot of wine for us. Somehow every bottle felt like a mag.

the staff had a mini tasting with what was left. It was a great time, glad all the bottles were sound and showed their ages and vintage characteristics.

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Looks like a great time. Thanks for the notes.

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Thanks John for the notes, the 97’ was something else but to be honest all were great. What a great setting to do this tasting and the food was phenomenal on top of everything else.

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Agreed. They were all incredible wines. Beautiful tasting.

Bravo!

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Thanks John for the notes. Also thanks for taking the initiative to arrange it. It was a wonderful evening. As Alex called it, was a great way to “retox” :joy:

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I’ve only had Masseto 98 half dozen times and thought it was VERY youthful, massive, and silky smooth…. spectacular every time! Need another vintage reference…

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Yeah, that was our experience. The 1998 drank so young.