The Buyer | Why Ornellaia 2022 signals a determined change of direction

It was a little unexpected that the first wine I tasted on a two-day trip to Bolgheri for the unveiling of Ornellaia 2022 was a nine-year-old Chardonnay from Cotes du Jura (£17) served blind.

Marco Balsimelli, the new head of winemaking at Frescobaldi’s flagship estate, who was hosting this intimate dinner thought it would be good to have a little bit of fun with the evening and so mixed new and old Ornellaia wines alongside some wines least expected.

Before tasting an Ornellaia 2013, for example, paired with duck breast, porcini and truffle sauce he also served blind a L’Evangile 2014, again as a way of talking about what you look for in a wine, Bordeaux’s relationship with Bolgheri, awkward vintages and so on, in a less starchy manner. It was fresh, confident and totally unexpected.

Heralding a new era of change at Ornellaia

And it is change that is very much on the cards here at Ornellaia. In fact, 14 months ago it was all change. Axel Heinz who had been at the helm of winemaking at Ornellaia and Masseto left after 17 years, oenologist Olga Fusari left along with MD Giovanni Geddes who retired, leaving the way for Fabrizio Dosi, GM of Frescobaldi to take over.

Since then Balsimelli has been recruited as technical director/ production manager supported by Denise Cosentino as winemaker for Ornellaia and Gaia Cinnirella for Masseto.

And the changes are starting to appear slowly. In the vineyards crop density is continuing to halve from 12,000 to 6,000 vines per hectare as a way of coping with the effects of drought and, in the cellar, possibly the biggest change Balsimelli has so far effected, is that the grand vin is blended prior to ageing, where before the individual plots were kept separate and blended far later in the process.

“The homogeneity is better if you blend earlier,” he says.

Prior to Ornellia, Balsimelli was at St Julien estate Gruaud Larose and worked as a consultant oenologist at Laboratoire Boissenot for 13 and a half years, the consultancy that works under the radar with 150+ Bordeaux estates including a large number of First Growths. The boy knows his Bordeaux then and his blending which makes his appointment a shrewd move from Lamberto Frescobaldi who confides during the official launch of Ornellaia 2022 that the best revolutions come slowly.

“It’s an ongoing thing… when you don’t progress you really only go back.”

Both Frescobaldi and Balsimelli stressed during the launch that the estate is consciously pulling back on over-ripe styles and aiming at making fresher, more elegant wines.

“2022 feels like a turning point it is a more contemporary wine – perhaps this is a wine that you open and finish the whole bottle. Sudden revolutions are never good – if you had tasted 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021 at each vintage you would have noticed a change – we have started a journey and hope it is a radiant journey,” Frescobaldi told me.

Putting Ornellaia 2022 into context

The new Ornellaia 2022 was presented alongside four other vintages – the 2015, 2011, 2005 and 2001 – ostensibly to show how the wine will age in time and the different characteristics that will develop but it perhaps showed more keenly the change in direction that Ornellaia is taking.

Where the 2001, 2005 and 2011 were highly concentrated with luscious, very ripe fruit, the younger vintages particularly the 2022 were leaner, fresher and seemingly more terroir-focused.

The secret is to get the balance right between the concentrated tannic power that comes from the clay-rich, shallow soils of the Ornellaia vineyard and the elegance and complexity that come from the Bellaria vineyard that has deeper, sandier, more limestone-based soils.

It’s more complex than that, of course, (Ornellaia estate has eight different terroirs in its 134 hectares, with three or four being used for the grand vin) but that is the basic gist of it.

Although the 2024 vintage was Balsimelli’s first from start to finish, his first job after his appointment just over a year ago was to blend the Ornellaia 2022 with proportions being 55% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% Merlot, 10% Cabernet Franc and 10% Petit Verdot (almost double the normal amount to bring more colour, structure and aromatic freshness).

As is customary with each Ornellaia vintage, a key word is chosen by the estate to describe the wine – in 2022’s case it is ‘La Determinazione’ which encapsulates both the determination and resilience of the vines in a dry, difficult growing season but also the determination of the technical team and staff “to bring home such a great result.”

Coping with climate change

Lamberto Frescobaldi commented that in the past it was high alcohol and freshness in the wine that were the key issues in Bolgheri but these he said could be coped with in the vineyard, the biggest problem they face in the region is mild winters allowing early bud break and the risk of spring frosts.

The main problem with the 2022 vintage, however, was a 75-day dry spell which was the driest February to July recorded. This impacted the vigour of the plants, which produced less bunches with smaller grapes – all in all leading to a 15% reduction in the crop.

The resulting increase in solid-to-liquid ratio in the fruit meant that the wine had to be vinified in a different way.

“The '22 has a very fresh characteristic it’s hard to tell that this was a very dry and sunny season,” says Frescobaldi, “you find red and black fruits that don’t recall too much ripening – this shows the determination of these great terroirs to react in every situation. The acidity is also very important, especially for this kind of vintage – fresh fruit in the nose and acidity in the mouth and the tannins – very concentrated from the very low yields.”

“Am I worried about climate change? No, in the vineyard agronomically we can easily overcome these changes – you might remember in Montalcino we used to clear leaves from bunches, now we don’t remove them. No, mankind has always adapted to change and that’s how we adapt too.”

Tasting the new Ornellaia 2022

Ornellaia 2022

Up there with the best recent vintages, this Ornellaia is immediately approachable with elegant, integrated tannins, abundant fruit and a fresh balance that belies the hot and difficult growing season. There is a delightful concentration here – not in an over-ripe way but more compact – with pretty, lifted, dried violet notes, rosemary and inky blue and red fruit. After time you find wild bramble, petrichor, clay, cocoa powder and ink. In the mouth it is fresh, then opens out with a full, dense cluster of firm, ripe, sandpaper fine tannins. I found wild black fruits, black chocolate notes, a herbal edge which then finishes dry with a chalky, blue plum skin finish. Nice tension, less opulence but its power is deceptive. Hugely impressive.

Tasted alongside the new wine and the 2011, 2005 and 2001 vintages, the Ornellaia 2015 was showing best on the day from what was perceived as a ‘perfect vintage’, it was elegant, fresh and had fabulous balance and persistence - an almost ethereal quality.

The Ornellaia 2011 was closest to the 2022 in its compact structure with tense, elegant but firm tannins, persistent acidity, silky and sapid. Jamon amongst the secondary notes.

The Ornellaia 2005 blind could have been mistaken for a Napa Cab – the nose was so, so ripe it was almost primary. Massive structure, huge juicy berries, a sweet tobacco note, with very fine, grainy tannins, and resin and citrus on the finish. My least favourite of the flight.

Like the 2005 the Ornellaia 2001 was intense and ripe and shows clearly how far the current team have come in making a contemporary, more elegant style. The balance and evolution were good, great acidity with macerated fruit and a hint of rumtopf. Ripe, intense, rounded and very rich and opulent with a very dry finish.