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Tasting notes
This is extremely perfumed with flowers, cherries and blackberries, as well as hints of lavender. It’s full-bodied, yet so refined, linear and racy. Pure silk. The texture is every so polished. Succulent and subtle fruit at the end. New wood showing now. A sophisticated Masseto that shows balance and harmony. Builds with tannins at the finish. Needs time to come completely together. Try after 2025.
Critic scores
Average Score
Antonio Galloni, Vinous
Bruce Sanderson, Wine Spectator
More reviews and scores
The 2018 Masseto is the vintage surprise few of us could have expected. The season saw rains just before harvest, and vintners were forced into dramatic last-minute decisions and risks. The expert team at Masseto navigated those challenges with deft precision in this first vintage executed in the new winery that is now fully dedicated and engineered to fulfill the expectations of this iconic Merlot from coastal Tuscany. The new gravity-flow building has angular concrete fermentors and an old-fashioned basket press. Dark fruit and ripe blackberry bleed slowly into spice, leather, chocolate and sweet tobacco. The wine shows generous extraction and concentration; however, it remains light and lifted throughout. Welcome Masseto into your new home.
The 2018 Masseto is silky, pliant and wonderfully expressive. Here, too, readers will find a wine of real sophistication, with less of the bombastic intensity of some previous editions. Blackberry jam, chocolate, leather, licorice and new leather all flesh out nicely in the glass. Masseto has an extraordinary track record of aging. In fact, some of the more reticent vintages end up being the most complex and satisfying to drink in time. That's where I think the 2018 is headed.
Rich and solidly built, this red features black cherry, plum, cedar, vanilla and toasty oak aromas and flavors. A line of refined tannins marks the finish, yet overall this is balanced, remarkably fresh and expressive. Merlot. Best from 2024 through 2043. 300 cases imported
About the producer
Established in the 1980s by Lodovico Antinori on the advice of André Tchelistcheff, Masseto was one of Tuscany’s first pure Merlot wines. Sibling to Ornellaia, the Super Tuscan is often considered the Pétrus of Italy – offering powerful, perfumed wines that are highly sought-after by collectors.