Ornellaia has recently started selling its wine from 2018. An elegant vintage. But the vineyard also makes a “second wine”, Le Serre Nuove, perhaps slightly less ambitiously made and significantly less costly. And maybe also a little less in need of staying for a long time in the cellar. We recently had the opportunity to compare a young and an old vintage of Ornellaia and of Le Serre Nuove. BKWine Magazine’s Sven-Olof Johansson gives us the results of that derby.
Tasting wine together with professionals is a joy. An experience far beyond the company that has just qualified and learned to distinguish grapes from regions or that can recite vintages and soil types. The mid-level connoisseurs have a partiality to tell everyone around the table about how things really are. Many times without the others around the table wanting to receive the information. During a silent intake of breath, quick comments about Parker points are heard and that the person in question has, of course, drunk the wine at the winery.
A professional, on the other hand, can sniff and speculate about which chardonnay he has in the glass to say the second after “oops, was it an oak-aged Riesling from Von Winning?” There is simply no harm in guessing wrong. The phenomenon is repeated if the price tag on the wines differs significantly. Woe to the poor man who chooses the cheapest wine as his favourite. Such a quack immediately risks losing his self-proclaimed status at the table. Of course, such a defeat does not affect a professional.
The price difference between Ornellaia (some 190 euro, Swedish retail), and Le Serre Nuove dell Ornellaia (46 euro), is noticeable, to say the least. No doubt everyone can count, but getting one or four bottles in the bag home for the same money certainly makes a difference. Well, what would you do? On the one hand, on the other hand? At the table, Le Serre Nuove, i.e. the second wine, of the vintages 2013 and 2019. Ornellaia of the vintages 2011 and 2018 were served in parallel.
Matteo Zanadello, export manager at Ornellaia, talks warmly about all the wines. On good grounds, of course. We quickly conclude that the 2018 Ornellaia is an impressively alive experience with restrained tones of Bordeaux but so closed and compact that it is best placed in the cellar for quite a long time. The same was true of the 2019 Le Serre Nuove, which, however, was very enjoyable after some time in the glass.
The nose was then positioned over the glass with the 2011 Ornellaia, and yes, of course, a lot has happened after ten years in the bottle. It was a very pleasant experience, mainly because it was appropriately served with a grilled piece of meat with uncompromising béarnaise.
The nose then moved to the “second wine”, which had eight years in the cellar, 2013 Le Serre Nuove. It can be vintage differences, hot or cold, or bottle variation, but here harmonious aromas flowed out of the glass in a way that testified to the perfect timing to open the bottle. Masculine power with mature softness fit perfectly with the last bite of the piece of meat.
And then we were back to the phenomenon of tasting with professionals. The sommelier opposite me raised his glass with 2013 Le Serre Nuove, twirled it a little against the light and simply said, “Oh yes, I thought this was the best right now.” Which prompted the wine writer next to him to agree with food in his mouth; “Same here, it was delicious”. No fuss, no glancing at the price tag but a simple statement about which wine tasted best right now.
What was it I said, I thought to myself and recalled the Ornellaia tasting two years ago when my vote was cast on the second wine, already then. But of course, I said nothing, for who wants to be the table’s troublesome besserwisser. Read more about Ornellaia from the tasting in 2019.
Despite all the wiseacre statements above, I readily admit that I most of all want an Ornellaia in the Father’s Day package. It is, after all, an icon with the appeal it brings. But if I go to Systembolaget with my own wallet, I will, without hesitation, fill the bag with four bottles instead. One must not be stupid.
Speaking of Systembolaget, Ornellaia was released on TSE on November 5, and Le Serre Nuove will arrive on November 19.
Also, read more about the new Ornellaia 2018 in this article, recently published on BKWine Magazine.
