2022 Ornellaia Bolgheri Superiore 750 ml

If there’s an Italian wine that collectors revere like First Growth Bordeaux and cult California Cabernet, it’s Ornellaia. The icon stands shoulder to shoulder with its $500–$800+ Médoc counterparts—to paraphrase Antonio Galloni of Vinous, it’s a wine that never fails to send shivers down your spine.

For the past 18 years, Ornellaia has been synonymous with one name: Axel Heinz. The legendary winemaker elevated the estate to perhaps the most collectible in Tuscany, through a mix of talent, diligence, and attention to detail that’s legendary across the wine world.

The 2022 vintage represents Axel Heinz’s swan song at Ornellaia—a final, legend-in-the-making bottling that shows off the icon at its opulent and seductive finest.

It’s a young Super Tuscan of majestic proportions—a wine that “will be remembered for its full-bodied appeal, concentrated fruit and generous oak renderings,” according to Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate.

Ornellaia’s superb longevity was palpable when we visited the estate a few summers ago, and the property drips with pedigree. The original Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Cabernet Franc vines were planted by legendary enologist André Tchelistcheff, who told founder Lodovico Antinori that the land was a viticultural “El Dorado.” 

Barely three miles from the glimmering Tuscan coast, I could see what he meant. The maritime breeze is a welcome respite from Italy’s sultry summer heat—a key to keeping the wine equal parts “sumptuous and racy,” as Galloni once described it. The 2022 vintage was a warm one, so Ornellaia’s coastal location was essential—and the result is one of the wine world’s true aristocrats.