Ornellaia

Ornellaia is an Italian winery inspired by Bordeaux stars like Lafite and Latour. It produces outstanding Bordeaux-style wines from Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and other Bordeaux varieties grown under the Tuscan sun! Made on Tuscany’s Maremma coast, Super Tuscan wines showcase French grapes — a notable break from Italian tradition. Three estates, each founded by members of the Antinori family, pioneered the category. With 26 generations of winemaking history, the Antinori family holds one of the oldest lineages in the global wine industry.
Piero Antinori debuted Tignanello in the early 1970s; a few years earlier, his cousin, Mario Incisa della Rocchetta, kickstarted the category with Sassicaia. In 1981, Antinori’s younger brother Lodovico founded the Ornellaia estate on property neighboring the Sassicaia estate. Ornellaia released its first Tuscan Bordeaux blend in 1985 and celebrated the opening of its winemaking facility two years later.

Ornellaia employs a full time team of 80 people whose passion and motivation make Ornellaia what it is today. No shortcuts in the part of the production are allowed and the details literally come down to a grape by grape basis. Wines are intently crafted to capture the character of each vintage, in all its complexity and facets. In fact, the character and intricacies of each individual vintage are so important to the estate that since vintage 2006, Winemaker and Estate Director Axel Heinz has identified a single word that captures the character of each vintage, and that word is interpreted by a contemporary artist who produces special labels and a site-specific work of art that remains part of the estate’s permanent collection.

In addition to its place among Italy’s iconic wines, Ornellaia is also an ambassador for the Bolgheri region, leading it to be recognized as one of Italy’s greatest winegrowing regions. It is their belief, and it is hard to argue, that Bogheri’s mild maritime climate and diversity of soils create wines as distinct, complex and pleasurable as any in the world.
Ornellaia Bolgheri DOC Superiore is the winery’s flagship wine. It’s made with the French grapes Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, and Petit Verdot.