Tenuta dell' Ornellaia - Ornellaia Bolgheri DOC Superiore Rosso - 2019

ORNELLAIA 2019 ' Il Vigore ' - BOLGHERI DOC SUPERIORE ROSSO

The desire to promote the exceptional quality of the winery has characterized the Ornellaia philosophy since the beginning. A blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot, Ornellaia is the authentic expression of a unique terroir developed in harmony with nature.

THE VEGETATION PERIOD 2019
The year 2019 was characterized by an extremely changeable climate. Cold, rainy phases alternated with long dry and hot periods. After a relatively normal winter, budding took place in the first week of April. Vegetation development was severely hampered by cold and rainy conditions in April and May, delaying flowering by a good 10 days compared to the seasonal average. In June it suddenly became very hot and dry, with highs of 37 °C at the end of the month. The whole summer was hot and sunny, with temperatures 2°C above average and 45 consecutive days without precipitation. The long period of drought was interrupted by two days of rain in the last week of July, bringing temperatures back to seasonal averages and ideal conditions for the grapes to ripen. The grape harvest began slowly on September 5th. In the last week of September, as usual, the temperature dropped, allowing a marked finesse and aromatic freshness to be preserved. After the rain on September 21st, sunny weather prevailed again, which allowed us to harvest the late grape varieties on October 4th

VINIFICATION AND AGING
After being hand-picked in 15 kg boxes, the grapes were selected both before and after destemming on double sorting tables and then gently pressed. In addition to manual sorting, optical grape sorting was introduced in 2016 to further increase the quality of the selection. Each grape variety and each vineyard plot was vinified separately. First, the one-week alcoholic fermentation took place partly in stainless steel tanks, partly in cement vats at temperatures between 26 and 30 °C, and then the maceration for a total of around 15 days, so that the time in these tanks totaled around three weeks. The malolactic fermentation was mainly carried out in oak barrels (70% new barrels and 30% second use). The wine remained in the barriques, which are stored in the temperature-controlled wine cellar of Ornellaia, for a period of approximately 18 months. After the first twelve months, the grape varieties were blended and then poured back into the barriques, where the cuvée remained for another six months. After bottling, the wine remains in the bottle for a further 12 months before being released on the market.