Ornellaia 2005 to be released on May 1 was in Delhi yesterday for its
20-year anniversary celebration run, and was unveiled and uncorked at
Hotel Shangri-la, with a promise to impress connoisseurs in future years,
with its 10-year older sibling winning cork down in, maturity, and rounded
flavours reports Subhash Arora.
Sassicaia,
Solaia, Ornellaia, Gaja… are a few of my favourite
Tuscan wines which bring music to the ears and pleasure
to the palate. Of course, the last one is not a wine but
the legendry producer from Barbaresco, who makes Super
Tuscans as well, in the relatively recent Bolgheri, South
west of Tuscany in the Maremma coastal area. Solaia is
crafted in the traditional Chianti Classico region.
Ornellaia has an ornamental ring to it.
It is always a treat to taste this delicious Super Tuscan
from the Frescobaldi family and so I could not resist
the temptation of being one of the first to taste the
recently released-for-tasting 2005 vintage at Shangri-la,
the latest Delhi hotel vying to be a wine destination
with many novel policies on the anvil.
Ornellaia is an Italian equivalent of
Bordeaux; the 2005 has 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 22% Merlot,
14% Cabernet Franc and the recently added 4% Petit Verdot.
It is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year and one
of the first to join in was a group of journalists, wine
lovers and hotel industry people who had collected to
taste the Italian version of the equivalent classified
growth from Medoc.
But before the unveiling of this charmer,
there was Le Serre Nuove, the second wine of this Frescobaldi-owned
estate. Made from younger vineyards (the old world charm
also lies in their belief that vines need to age before
they start yielding great fruit), the grapes are picked
separately from each parcel and after individual fermentation
and barrel aging for 12 months, does the winemaker decide
whether the wine is good enough to be designated as the
King Ornellaia, in which case it enjoys 6 more months
in the barrel and 12 months in the bottle at the cellar,
before it can be uncorked.
Not long ago, Robert Mondavi had picked
up share holding in the prestigious Tenute dell'Ornellaia,
the winery founded by Lodovico Antinori. But it is now
back with the Tuscan family of Frescobaldi as their exclusive
private reserve.
Giovanni Mazzoni, the export manager
for 52 countries in West Asia-Pacific, Middle-East was
in Delhi to unveil the flagship wine of the Frescobaldi
family and the wine certainly did not disappoint. Though
a bit young and tight as expected, the tannins are still
fairly strong and powerful and need some taming down but
the complexity of fruit and minerality were abundant.
Explaining to delWine, Mazzoni said that
though Ornellaia was born in 1984 (says the website),
it was not sold in the market and they figure 1985 was
the first year and hence the 20th celebrations for 2005,
with special gold inscribed bottle.
The best of the evening belonged to
the 1995 though, which was simply superb- perfectly balanced
tannins and fruit with a complex and long after finish-
the flavour is still lingering in mouth (the vintage can
make so much of difference-and in case of fine wines the
maturity comes with spending years in the barrel or even
the bottle and also 1995 was an excellent vintage.)
Ornellaia is yet another beauty in Brindco's
Harem! And if we were ever to double-date I would let
Aman Dhall take the 2005 and I would go for the older,
and more mature and well-balanced 1995 stunner!
Kudos to Shangri-la for its effort to
get the Champagne export into India keep pace with the
rest of the country in wine consumption by starting the
evening with uncorking of the famous sparkler.
Subhash Arora
March 10, 2008
In case Hindi is not your mother
tongue or father tongue- the heading of this article simply
describes the event- Ornellaia came to Delhi… and
pleased hearts whole-heartedly
