Lodovico - Biserno - Lodovico 2017

Tenuta di Biserno - Lodovico 2017 Tasting sample (95+ TSW)

Wow!! What an honor to receive this wine as a tasting sample. Not yet released this iconic blend of Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot from the (hot) 2017 vintage.
Together with @andrewinereviews we tasted this wine yesterday evening.

After the harvest, the grapes are destemmed. The fermentation takes place for 3 to 4 weeks in stainless steel barrels at 28 degrees. Then the malolactic fermentation takes place, 80% on wood and the rest on stainless steel. Then the wine is aged for 16 months in new French oak casks. After which another 1 year of bottle aging.

My tasting notes:

In the glass a deep ruby red color with purple reflections.
On the medium(+) nose delicate aromas of dark fruit like blueberries, blackberries and plums with hints of chocolate, mocca, smoke, mint, earthiness, cedar and light vanilla.
On the palate dry, medium(+) bodied with great elegance, complexity and balance. Medium acidity and fine grained sweet tannins with a round but also fresh mouthfeel. Lots of layers and a neverending finish. Wow! Loved it.

About Lodovico:

Lodovico Antinori is one of the founders of the meteoric rise of Bolgheri wines in the Maremma. Already in the 1980s he recognized the potential of this region on the hills along the coast of Tuscany at the Tyrrhenian Sea. His successes with Ornellaia and Masseto have become legends. In 1994 an employee showed him the land above Bolgheri towards Bibbona. "It's called "Bellaria" because there's a steady sea breeze up here. "It was like love at first sight," said Lodovico Antinori in an interview, "because we were looking for an extension to the Ornellaia vineyards.

Lodovico and his team quickly realized that the geological composition of the soils in Bellaria was different, hilly and stony, clayey and calcareous, with large pebbles. So not for Ornellaia, more suitable for another project. It still took a while, but when he sold Ornellaia in 2001, the time was ripe to start a project together with his brother Piero, who ran the family business, for the first time. Together with the landowner Umberto Mannoni they founded the Tenuta di Biserno.