2004 Ornellaia 750ml

This is a really balanced and beautiful year with chocolate, currant and walnut character. Medium body and fine and silky tannins. Shows autumnal and light mushroom undertones. Just moving into its maturity. A warm yet fresh vintage. Ready to drink.

60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% Merlot, 12% Cabernet Franc, 3% Petit Verdot. Textbook vintage, high yields kept in check by regular bunch thinning. Early summer mild and moderate; hot, sunny August. Harvest from 2 September to end of first week in October. Lush and sweet, almost like sugared damsons on the nose. Less savoury than the 2001 though as it opens, it has something akin to eucalpytus. Dry and dusty on the palate and much less fleshy than I expected. But becomes more savoury and leathery as it opens up and spreads across the mouth. Some chocolate in the flavour rather than the texture. (JH)

The 2004 Ornellaia (magnum) has always been a beautiful wine, but stylistically it stands out quite a bit from other vintages of this era, something that is particularly evident in this tasting. The 2004 is perhaps the most delicate, feminine Ornellaia ever made. Silky tannins frame a perfumed core of ripe fruit all the way through to the sublime finish. The wine’s inner fragrance, sweetness and balance are all impeccable. The 2004 remains one of my all-time favorite Ornellaias, and it is firing on all cylinders on this night. In 2004 the growing season was long and even, with a cool early summer and warmer late summer. Yields were on the high side, as the vines released the stored energy they had held in reserve from the previous year, which required the estate to aggressively green harvest in order to keep the plants in balance. The 2004 Ornellaia is 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% Merlot, 12% Cabernet Franc and 3% Petit Verdot. The relatively high percentage of Cabernet Franc may explain the 2004’s gorgeous, vivid bouquet. The wine spent a total of 18 months in oak (70% new) prior to being bottled.