2023 Ornellaia Le Volte dell'Ornellaia Tuscany 750 ml

When world-renowned wine critic Antonio Galloni sat down with us for the Wine Access Unfiltered podcast, he revealed a secret to finding amazing wines at great values:

“Buy the least expensive wines from the best producers,” he said. “You know that every wine they make is going to be somewhere between outstanding to just tremendous.” 

That’s a spot-on description of Ornellaia’s 2023 Le Volte. Of course, Ornellaia is the collector-coveted winery often referred to as an Italian First Growth—whose wines Galloni said “have never failed to literally send shivers down my spine.” And Le Volte is a bargain that delivers far beyond what you can expect from comparable bottles from the Bordeaux icons. 

Ornellaia’s original Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon vines were planted by the legendary Russian-born enologist André Tchelistcheff, who called the property a viticultural “El Dorado.” Today’s wine was made by Denise Cosentino, who took the helm after longtime Director Axel Heinz and Winemaker Olga Fusari departed in 2023. 

With Le Volte, the Bolgheri icon has delivered food-friendly verve and nuance with the same pedigree and attention to detail as their collector-coveted bottles. With a seemingly endless pageant of aromas and fresh acidity, this shows why classic Super Tuscans are wine-list mainstays—and why Le Volte is a perennial favorite of in-the-know Italian-wine fanatics.

For the ‘23, Cosentino blended the Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Petit Verdot from carefully selected sites, fermenting each variety separately. She and her team aged the wine for ten months in barriques and cement tanks, maintaining a balance of tannic structure and bold fruit. The resulting wine is delicious right now, yet will easily age for another decade.