Producer Profile
About Ornellaia
With its debut vintage in 1985, Ornellaia was the brainchild of Lodovico Antinori, Piero Antinori’s brother. While Piero was making a heavy splash in Chianti with Tignanello and Solaia, a Bolgheri estate needed to be part of the portfolio. Lodovico’s partnership with Mondavi who acquired interest in the company in 1999, would lead this already popular wine to new heights of demand in the years ahead; sadly, it seemed always second best to its famous neighbor Sassicaia. Around this time the Frescobaldi family took up majority ownership, finally buying everyone outright in 2005 in order to have full production and creative control. A young, brilliant wine maker name Axel Heinz would take the helm and lead this estate to a greatness they had never seen before!
In 2012, Axel Heiz and Frescobaldi Family made a decision that would change the brand and the wine forever. There was a hard push to give the name “Ornellaia” its own identity and spotlight, separate even from its overshadowing older brother the iconic Masseto. At great cost, they put all their efforts into becoming a luxury brand focused on the highest level of customer experience and product quality without compromises. They succeed. The result was a different brand of Super Tuscan all together, in fact they really became “Ornellaia” as we know it today.
