Biography
Ornellaia, one of the jewels of Italian viticulture, today the property of Tenute di Toscana, a holding company controlled by the Marquis Frescobaldi family (of which Ferdinando is the chairman), wine producers since 1300, was founded in 1981 at Bolgheri by Marquis Lodovico Antinori. The extraordinary potential of the territory of Bolgheri was not, at the time, as evident as it is today, but Antinori had identified, for the purpose of planting vineyards, an amazingly fortunate series of plots, characterized by the luminosity of the atmosphere and the mildness of the climate, protected by cool winds off the sea by Mediterranean brush. Antinori also knew, thanks to Sassicaia, produced by his cousin, Marquis Niccolò Incisa della Rocchetta, that the Bordeaux grapes which he intended to plant, were ideal for that micro-climate. If it were a human being, one could say that Ornellaia, the wine produced in that spot, was born with a silver spoon in its mouth: in a privileged position, it had the double fortune to see light in 1985, a vintage so exceptional that the wine is still good today, even though it was produced from very young wines, theoretically a handicap for a wine. Its quality is even more exceptional in that Antinori did not even have a cellar to work in: fermentation took place at San Casciano Val di Pesa, in the family winery of Marchesi Antinori of brother Piero Antinori. It was only in 1987 that Ornellaia finally had its own cellars, and it was a structure which created a stir: very modern, daring in its architecture, but hidden in a hollow in the middle of the vineyards with zero impact on the environment. Today the presence in the winery of a high level team, Giovanni Geddes da Filicaia (President) and Leonardo Raspini, assures constant high quality independently of the adversities of the weather and the vintage. At the top of the line is Ornellaia, made from a careful selection of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, and Petit Verdot grapes, equally carefully blended in the cellar. Equally fine is Masseto, pure Merlot, born almost by accident in 1986; the 2001 was unanimously acclaimed all over the world and recognized as one of the world’s finest Merlots (number one in the Top 100 of Wine Spectator).