“Masseto”
The Merlot hill that changed Bolgheri, and the new 2023 vintage
“Masseto”
The Merlot hill that changed Bolgheri, and the new 2023 vintage
A hill nobody would have picked
On the Tuscan coast, a few kilometres from the Tyrrhenian Sea, there is a small hill of heavy blue clay. In the early 1980s nobody would have chosen it for a great red wine, and certainly not for Merlot, a grape Tuscany barely took seriously back then.
Forty years later, that hill gives Masseto: almost always 100% Merlot, from a single vineyard, and one of the most sought after Italian reds in the world. The name comes from massi, the rock-hard lumps of blue clay that surface between the vines.
The new 2023 vintage has just arrived at all’Amarone. Here is how the story began, what is in the bottle today, and why we keep it on our shelves a few steps from the Rialto Bridge.
An experiment from 1986
Lodovico Antinori founded Tenuta dell’Ornellaia in Bolgheri in 1981, right next to Tenuta San Guido, home of Sassicaia. Sassicaia was Cabernet. Antinori wanted something of his own.
His first consultant was André Tchelistcheff, the Russian born winemaker who had become a legend in Napa Valley. He walked the estate, stopped at one particular slope and said: Merlot. The story goes that the blue clay reminded him of Pomerol, on the Right Bank of Bordeaux, where Merlot makes some of the most famous wines on earth. Most of the vineyard was planted in 1984.
In 1986, Antinori and his winemaker Tibor Gál bottled their first pure Merlot as a test, simply called Merlot dell’Ornellaia. It never went on sale, but it was good enough to change their plans. From the 1987 vintage, the wine carried the name of its hill: Masseto.
What followed happened fast. In 2005 the Frescobaldi family took full ownership of Ornellaia and Masseto. With the 2006 vintage, Masseto became the first Italian wine sold through the Place de Bordeaux, the merchant network that distributes the great Bordeaux châteaux. In 2012 the estate changed its name to Ornellaia e Masseto, and in 2019 Masseto opened a winery of its own, dug into the hill right under the vines.
The secret is under your feet
Millions of years ago, in the Pliocene, the sea covered this land. What it left behind is a seam of blue clay, dense and cold, full of tiny marine fossils. Later, the movements of the earth folded it back up to the surface, right where the vines grow today.
For most grapes that soil would be a problem. For Merlot it works. The clay holds water through the dry Tuscan summer and keeps the vines from suffering in the heat, while the sea breeze and the light bouncing off the Tyrrhenian do the rest.
The vineyard started at about 7 hectares and today covers about 11. It is split into parcels with plain names: Masseto Alto at the top, Masseto Centrale in the middle, and Masseto Junior. Each one is picked and fermented on its own, and they only meet at blending.
A winery inside the clay
Since April 2019, Masseto has its own winery, carved into the clay right below the vineyard. The architects called it “the quarry”, and from the outside you barely see it. Grapes are picked by hand into 15 kg crates, travel a few minutes, then move by gravity into concrete vats, without pumps.
Deep inside sits the Masseto Caveau, where bottles of every vintage since 1986 rest one by one in stainless steel cradles.
The team has changed a lot in the last few years. Axel Heinz, who ran the estate from 2005, left for Bordeaux in 2023. Since January 2024, Marco Balsimelli, a Tuscan who spent many years working in Bordeaux, has been production director. Gaia Cinnirella, winemaker and cellar master from the 2021 harvest, made the 2023 you can buy today. Before Masseto she worked at Allegrini, a Valpolicella name we know well. She left the estate at the end of May 2026, and Balsimelli now leads the technical work himself.
Masseto 2023, just released
Masseto 2023 reached the market on October 1, 2026. The year began with a mild winter and a rainy spring that kept the vineyard team busy. Then came a sunny summer with no extreme heat, rain at the end of August and cool September nights. Harvest ran from September 6 to October 5. Balsimelli calls it a vintage full of energy and poise.
After 24 months in French barriques, the wine was bottled in December 2025 and rested in the cellar until release. The estate describes a deep ruby colour with violet edges. One grape only: 100% Merlot.
The critics are enthusiastic, but not all on the same page, and we think that is worth telling you. Jeb Dunnuck gives it 99 and writes about wet stone, mint and a chalky minerality, suggesting you start drinking it from 2028. James Suckling gives 98. Antonio Galloni (Vinous) gives 95 and finds a young wine that still needs time to come together.
Our honest advice: 2023 is a bottle to lay down. Open it a couple of hours before dinner, give it a large glass, and pair it with slow cooked meat or a piece of well aged pecorino. That is all Masseto asks for.
Want to open a Masseto this year?
Then reach for an older vintage. We also have Masseto 2021, back to 100% Merlot after a hot year, Masseto 2019, the first Masseto with a touch of Cabernet Franc (about 10%), Masseto 2015 and Masseto 2007, now well into its drinking years.
Ask us at the counter which one suits your evening.
Massetino, the younger sibling
Massetino comes from the same hill, the same blue clay and the same team. It was born with the 2017 vintage, released in October 2019, from a simple idea: the lots that don’t end up in Masseto at blending deserve a life of their own.
The difference is in the style. Massetino spends about a year in French barriques, half of them new; Masseto stays two years in oak and waits much longer before release. And unlike its older sibling, Massetino has always had a little Cabernet Franc in the blend. Fresher, livelier, ready to open much earlier.
The bottle on our shelf is the 2019, only the third vintage ever made: 94% Merlot, 6% Cabernet Franc. It scored 95 from James Suckling, 95 from Monica Larner (Wine Advocate) and 94 from Antonio Galloni, who wrote that the estate had really found something with its second wine. Seven years after harvest, it is ready to open.
Curious about Masseto, but not ready for the price of the top bottle? This is where we would start.
Where to find it
Masseto 2023 and Massetino 2019 are available by the bottle at our all’Amarone Wine Shop, San Polo 1131, a couple of minutes’ walk from the Rialto Bridge. You can also order them online: Masseto 2023 and Massetino 2019.
Not travelling with a suitcase full of bottles? We ship to over 30 countries: choose your bottle at the counter in Venice and find it at home when you get back. And if you would like a selection of Bolgheri and Tuscan reds built around your taste, ask us about our Bespoke Wine Club.
A hill of blue clay, one grape, and a hunch that turned out right. Come by and ask for it.
Sources: Masseto, The Place · Masseto, The Winery · Masseto 2023 release · Decanter · Vinous · Gambero Rosso. Vineyard, clay and winery photos courtesy of Masseto.
