2015 Antinori Solaia Toscana 750 ml

“Is It The Greatest Solaia Ever?”

In the near-perfect 2015 growing season, Antinori winemaker Renzo Cotarella turned out a historically spectacular Solaia—a bottle that left James Suckling asking: “Is it the greatest Solaia ever?”

He awarded a perfect 100-point score. So did Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate—the first time ever for this wine—while penning a novella of unalloyed praise, calling the release “liquid sunshine” and “meticulously executed,” noting that “the 2015 vintage lives up to an ideal of what we imagine Solaia to be.”

From a producer this highly allocated, we wouldn’t normally have a shot at this vintage. But due to smaller crops from 2016 and 2017, Antinori decided to release limited volumes of the 2015 vintage in order to balance inventory. We’ll do our best to satisfy everyone’s demand, but be advised that once we’re out, we’re out, and this offer will not come around again. Marvelously opulent, packed with sleek red fruit preserves and silken in texture, finishing with Haut-Brion-like precision, this is a Super Tuscan of staggering greatness, the greatest in living memory.

First introduced in 1978 from a pristine southeastern-facing parcel, Renzo Cotarella’s Solaia—a breathtaking blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, and Sangiovese—has stood tall next to Sassicaia and Ornellaia in the hierarchy of Italy’s greatest reds.

The combination of Antinori’s calcareous limestone-rich soils (what many believe to be the secret ingredient found in all of the great wines of the world) with the cooling breezes in the high ground have given birth to a legendary Super Tuscan capable of going head-to-head with Bordeaux’s First Growths.

Over the years, Cotarella has put out some world-class Solaias, especially in warm vintages where all three varieties came together in perfectly ripe harmony, marrying the rich, dark blackberry concentration of Cabernet Sauvignon with the exquisite floral, red fruit complexity of Sangiovese. The 1985 was monumental, the 1990 superb, the 2010 exquisite. But it wasn’t untill 2015 that nature decided to reward Antinori with what was quite literally a perfect growing season. Cotarella has said, “the 2015 vintage is to be considered as among the finest of all for its ideal climatic conditions allowing the grapes to ripen in perfect conditions.”

A cold, dry winter and a damp spring preceded a hot summer of metronome-like evenness, leading to exquisitely ripe, healthy grapes, picked between late September and early October. The 2015 Solaia is the richest, sleekest blend in history, a phenomenally rich, marvelously sophisticated bottle that’s one part spellbindingly intellectual, the other extravagantly hedonistic. This is a one-time shot at a Solaia that will be talked about for years to come.