Tasting Notes
Vinous 95
The 2023 Masseto, 100% Merlot, is a young wine that still needs time to come together. Dark cherry, plum, mocha, chocolate, new leather, licorice and a kiss of French oak race across the palate. I find the tannins a bit large-grained relative to most years. This is a transitional vintage for Masseto. The oak imprint very clearly speaks to a vintage with a bit less structure than the very top years. I am very interested to see how the 2023 develops in bottle. Aging was 24 months in French oak, 70% new.
Anticipated maturity: 2031-2045
The Drinks Business 99
More expressive than Massetino, but also a little intimate and restrained at first. You seek it; it s not revealing too much for now. But it is gorgeous in prospect. Deep, dark, rich, compact but undemonstrative. When it does start to relax and unfurl, its florality is miraculous. Big blooms – hyacinths, maybe even gladioli! Dark berries and equally dark damson skin, walnut oil, black olive tapenade. A little black cherry and a scraping of intense black chocolate. Peony too. The tannins are so silky. A black hole of a core. So cool and compact. Incredible. Utterly seductive and a thing of beauty. Magical.
Jane Anson 98
Creamy but reserved raspberry and blackberry fruit studded through with sea spray, liqourice root, anis, fennel, bitter orange peel, cocoa bean, beautiful tension and clarity of expression. Brilliant. Eleonora Marconi winemaker, Marchesi Frescobaldi owners.
James Suckling 98
Intense, dark and meaty style with vibrant elegance of balsamic whiffs, clove and slight florals, with a mix of plums and cassis and graphite minerality in depth. The attack is impressive for its suppleness and silky texture, with elegant tannins, graceful brilliant acidity and toasty flavors of cocoa-milk, sweet tobacco and fruits. Endless aftertaste. Best after two-three years but drinkable now as well.
