Masseto Toscana 2015 by Masseto

To open a bottle, is to unleash a liquid kaleidoscope. A rare combination of sumptuous opulence and polished elegance. As a tribute to its rugged force, its softness, and the debt it owes to the soil from which it rises, Masseto was named after the rock-hard clusters of blue clay called ‘massi’ that form on the vineyard’s surface.

Masseto Toscana 2015 proved to be an almost textbook vintage. After a rainy and mild winter, with just a few days of temperatures below zero, budbreak arrived on time during the first days of April. Spring was characterized by dry and sunny weather, providing ideal conditions for regular vegetative growth that culminated in a quick and complete flowering at the end of May. From June on, water stress gradually became evident. July will be remembered as a particularly torrid, dry month, with maximum temperatures exceeding 30°C every single day of the month. The heat, combined with the absence of rains, made us fear a shut-down in the ripening and the need for an early harvest. Luckily rain fell abundantly around 10th August that not only unblocked the ripening but also brought much cooler temperatures during the final ripening phase. 

This cool, yet sunny, weather continued throughout the har- vest, allowing us to pick the grapes with great ease, choosing just the right moment to harvest the different vineyard blocks, resulting in a fresh and lively aromatic quality with a perfect degree of phenolic ripeness along with abundant, yet silky and soft, tannins. The harvest began on 29th August with the youngest vines and finished on the 16th September with the last portions of ‘Masseto Centrale’.

TASTING NOTES: The regularity of the vintage, along with ideal temperatures during harvest, are re- flected in a classic Masseto, with a perfect balance between a mature, complex, aromatic expression of gre- at freshness and a rare quality of ample, silky and smooth tannins. Dark and intense in colour and rich in aromas with hints of fully ripe red fruit and spicy, balsamic and cocoa notes. In the mouth it becomes sen- sual and rich, with great density and an ample and perfectly smooth tannin. The fruity notes are underlined by the subtle presence of oak - terminating in a fresh and vivid finish with pronounced hints of cocoa.

VIDEO - MASSETO CELLARS

THE VISION

The Masseto winery is the monolithic physical symbol of this wine, as is the wall of huge rocks marking the boundary of the estate. When you think of a great institution there is always a point of reference to a specific building. The same now applies to Masseto and its vineyards.
Giovanni Geddes da Filicaja, CEO

Designed by architects Hikaru Mori and Maurizio Zito of the ZitoMori Studio, the building represents and reinforces Masseto’s discreet but powerful identity. The vivid contrast between the discreet external form, and the cave-like temple interior, can be surprising when entering the Winery for the first time. The architects called their underground design concept, The Quarry.

A TRIBUTE TO CRAFTSMANSHIP

Built to incorporate a gravity flow winemaking process, and benefiting from the blue clay’s natural insulation, the structure of the winery is symbiotic with the hills and vineyard that surround it. Above ground, only the grape sorting area and the Masseto House can be seen. Grapes are hand sorted on the covered rooftop and then carefully transferred, again by hand, to concrete vinification tanks below. Echoing the internal-external juxtaposition, the tanks, each with a capacity of 65 hectolitres, offer their own visual juxtapositions. 

Outwardly jagged, the internal shape is of a tulip, a design that ensures the gentlest possible extraction.The tanks, 12 in total, offer greater vinification flexibility, heightened plot expression and additional complexity in the final blend. Two barrel rooms, first-year and second-year, as well as an experimental barrel room, offer further micro-vinification and maturation flexibility, making it easier to meet the specific demands of each vintage and every plot.

MASSETO CAVEAU

At the very heart of the winery lies the Estate’s wine vault, the Masseto Caveau. Bottles of every vintage since 1986 are preserved here, in perfect cellaring conditions, each suspended in its own stainless-steel mesh cradle. There could be no better physical manifestation of the Estate’s history.

Website : Masseto