The Ornellaia winery involved with two marquises
"Ornellaia" was founded in 1981, when Marquis Ludovico Antinori, cousin of Piero Antinori, honorary president of the winery "Antinori", established a winery in the land of Bolgheri, slightly inland from the Mediterranean Sea. to start.
The first grapes were harvested in 1985, and the wine bearing the name "Ornellaia" was released in 1988. Michel Rolland, an authority on winemaking, was in charge of the technical aspects of ``Ornellaia'' and became a hot topic.
In the 1990s, two representative brands of "Ornellaia" were born: "Le Volte" and "Le Sere Nuove."
In 2000, Californian wine producer Robert Mondavi acquired Ornellaia, and three years later it became owned by the Marquis of Frescobaldi.
Despite the change in ownership, the winery continued to make great strides, and in the 2000s they successfully cultivated the white wine ``Poggio alle Gazze'' and the Buti Manseng variety, creating the brand ``Ornus.''
Along with Sassicaia, it is a representative of Super Tuscan.
Bolgheri, located in Tuscany, Italy, is said to have the climate of California in the terroir of the right bank of Bordeaux, and although it is in Italy, it has soil suitable for Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot.
According to Italian wine law, in order to release wine from Tuscany, it is necessary to use Italian grapes, but Bolgheri has dared to deviate from that rule and create a wine that is a blend of Bordeaux varieties. Such wines could not claim to be from Tuscany, and even though they were ranked as the lowest table wines, their quality was top-notch, so they were called ``Super Tuscans.''
Among these Super Tuscans, Ornellaia is one of the most talented and popular. Along with Sassicaia, which was the forerunner of Super Tuscans, it reigns at the top of Super Tuscans.
Ornellaia's philosophy
``Ornellaia'' owns approximately 100 hectares of vineyards in Bolgheri, and has leased an additional 13 hectares to pursue an ambitious winemaking business.
The winery has only one philosophy: "Quality."
At Ornellaia, we believe that every decision and choice must be carefully considered and backed by technology, and that there are no shortcuts until the wine is bottled and leaves the winery.
The focus is on how to harvest the best grapes in accordance with the changing climate every year. The harvested grapes are carefully selected based on whether they are worth brewing, and each variety goes through various processes to become wine. It is as a result of these constant efforts that ``Ornellaia Style'' has become synonymous with quality assurance based on experience and technology.
Collaboration with various artists
In 2006, Ornellaia launched a project called ``Vendemia d'Artista'' (Harvest Season of Artists). In this project, a brewing expert expresses the taste of the wine produced each year in a few words, and then an artist expresses it as a picture, and the picture becomes a ravel and the wine is sold as a limited edition.
In addition to the regular 750ml bottles, this limited edition bottle includes 100 bottles of "Double Magnum (3L)," 10 bottles of "Imperial (6L)," and 1 bottle of "Salmanazor (9L)." Each of the 111 wines had the bonus of being serially numbered and signed by the artist himself, and quickly became the coveted item of wine collectors around the world.
The winery is also auctioning off some of these limited edition bottles to raise money for arts support. The 2013 wine is described as "elegance," and Japanese sculptor and painter Yutaka Sone is in charge of Ravel's paintings.
