Tenuta dell'Ornellaia

Ornellaia is the neighbour's reply. In 1981 Lodovico Antinori founded it on land next to the Sassicaia of his uncle Mario Incisa della Rocchetta, hired a young Hungarian, Tibor Gál, to make the wine, and had Michel Rolland consulting by 1991. The winery went up in 1987, the first Ornellaia was the 1985, released in 1988, and Masseto, the Merlot from the clay hill planted in 1984, followed with the 1986. Since 2019 Masseto has had a winery of its own.

The estate then changed hands twice. Robert Mondavi took a minority stake in 1999 and control soon after, with Frescobaldi as a half partner from 2002; when Constellation bought Mondavi, Frescobaldi bought out the rest in 2005 and has owned the estate alone since, with Ferdinando Frescobaldi as president. The cellar passed from Gál, who left in 1998, to Thomas Duroux, then to Axel Heinz from 2005 to 2023, and to Marco Balsimelli as technical director since.

The vineyards lie in two blocks, Ornellaia and Bellaria, between 50 and 120 m above the sea, in dozens of separate parcels facing mostly south-west towards the water, on soils the estate describes as marine, alluvial and volcanic in origin. Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot lead, with Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot behind them. Ornellaia itself is a Bolgheri DOC Superiore, and since the 2006 vintage each year's release has worn an artist's label under the Vendemmia d'Artista programme, a habit the estate turned into a signature.