94 points Robert Parker's Wine Advocate:
"The 2006 Le Serre Nuove, the estate's second wine from Ornellaia, will challenge many of the top bottlings in this vintage for years to come. The 2006 is a rich, sumptuous wine bursting with ripe dark fruit, smoke, tobacco, grilled herbs, new leather, minerals and tar. The wine possesses superb density and explosive, utterly irresistible personality. At roughly one-third the price of its big sibling Ornellaia, the 2006 Le Serre Nuove is a must-purchase wine. Anticipated maturity: 2012-2022."
90 points Wine Spectator:
"Fresh, focused aromas of blackberry and cherry lead to a medium body, with silky tannins and a currant, berry and tobacco aftertaste. Subtle and delicious already. Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot. Best after 2011." (10/08)
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This is the true ‘second vin’ of Ornellaia. Born in 1997, in a 5-star vintage, following the decision to make an even further selection during the blending of the base wines that lead to Ornellaia. Produced primarily from the younger vineyards, with the same imprint as the estate's flagship wine, it combines freshness, accessibility, and softness with the structure, balance and intensity typical of the great terroir of the Estate.
Wine maker notes
The fruit of an especially concentrated vintage, Le Serre Nuove 2006 displays a decidedly rich, mature personality. Deeply
colored, it presents warm red berry fruit, coca, and spice aromas. On the palate it's ample and round, with perfectly ripe,
well polished tannins and rich fruit supported by perfectly balanced acidity. The union of Merlot's richness, Petit Verdot's
freshness, and the Cabernets' structure forge an unmistakable path for the 2006
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Technical notes
Variety:
35% Cabernet Sauvignon
50% Merlot
9% Cabernet Franc
6% Petit Verdot
Climate and Harvest:
The winter of 2006 was cold and wet enough that budbreak was delayed despite the hot spring days that followed, and full bloom only arrived in the first week of June. The usual vigor of the buds was accompanied by good productivity that did require moderate pruning, in the younger vineyards as well; a moderate pruning of this kind is indicative of good balance between vegetative growth and fruit production. During the summer there was almost no rainfall on the Tuscan coast.
Fortunately, the temperatures never became excessive, and this allowed the vines to develop good aromatic potentials. At the beginning of the harvest the grapes were perfect: concentrated and uniformly ripe. The sunny, well ventilated days at the beginning of September allowed us to harvest the Merlot and Cabernet Franc at just the right moment. The steady rains that
fell on September 15 and 16 slowed the ripening of the Cabernet Sauvignon, though a wait of a few days was sufficient to
allow the grapes to reach perfect ripeness and make their journey to the cellars, where the harvest ended late in the afternoon of October 4.
Vinification and Ageing:
The grapes were handpicked into 15 kg baskets; the bunches were checked on a double selection table, before and after
destemming, and finally soft-pressed. Each varietal and parcel was vinified separately. The primary fermentation, in
stainless steel tanks at temperatures between 26 and 30° C for a period of about a week, was followed by 10-15 days of
maceration on the skins. The malolactic fermentation, which began in the steel tanks, finished after the wine was racked
into barriques (25% new and 75% a year old). The wine remained in barriques in Ornellaia's temperature-controlled cellars
for about 15 months.After the first 12 months the wine was assembled, and then returned to the barriques for an additional
three months of aging. After bottling, the wine aged another 6 months prior to release. Le Serre Nuove is Ornellaia's second wine, and its characteristics are determined by the final assembly of the various barriques. The grapes from the estate's youngest vineyards generally predominate in the Serre Nuove blend. The volume of Serre Nuove produced depends upon both the vintage and the final assembly, and thus varies from year to year
