CRITIC REVIEWS
Aldo Fiordelli
I must admit my personal preference for Ornellaia with a majority of Cabernets, and where Merlot is kept below 30% – as in this 2008 (54% Cabernet Sauvignon, 27% Merlot, 16% Cabernet Franc, 3% Petit Verdot). Olga Fusari mentioned ‘several mistakes done in that harvest,’ but today this is a delicious wine: clove, cedar and leather aromas are accompanied by elegant freshness of small dark fruits in depth. The palate is full of liquorice, oak bark, wild fennel and helichrysum – exquisitely mediterranean. The tannins are resolved and condensed, with lifted freshness and a polished finish. A very energetic kind of evolution.
Michelle Cherutti-Kowal MW
A fruit-forward style considering the age of the wine, with damsons, plums and dried herbs combined with leather, tobacco and wet leaves. The palate is thick with fruit and a high degree of glycerol. The tannins are still firm, but smooth and fine-grained, and much-needed acidity embraces the wine, giving it a lift and balancing the alcohol. Drinking now, but will hold for a further 10 years.