Tasting Notes: The 2018 vintage reveals a remarkably sophisticated, mid-weight expression of this iconic Tuscan Merlot, displaying great aromatic intensity and a silkier, more linear structure than standard years. The bouquet opens with a complex blend of dark plums, black cherries, and wild lavender, seamlessly integrated with notes of sweet tobacco, cedar, graphite minerality, and toasty French oak. On the palate, the wine delivers a highly refined, velvet-textured richness where pure fruit flavors balance harmoniously with ripe, polished tannins that build gently toward the finish. This larger bottling ensures a slower, exceptionally graceful maturation, preserving a vibrant freshness and deep core of savory complexity that guarantees long-term cellaring potential.
Estate History: Founded in 1981 by Marchese Lodovico Antinori on the Tuscan coast in Bolgheri, the estate owes its existence to the legendary Russian-American enologist André Tchelistcheff, who identified that the unique blue and gray clay soils of the Masseto hill were perfectly suited for Merlot, a variety largely unknown in the region at the time. The name originates from "massi," the Italian word for the rock-hard boulders of clay that form on the vineyard surface. The inaugural vintage debuted in 1987 to immediate international acclaim, launching the wine into global stardom and cementing its status as one of the world's most collectible single-vineyard labels. Today, the estate operates under the stewardship of the Frescobaldi family in a state-of-the-art underground gravity-flow winery that mirrors the monolithic nature of its historic terroir.
