Masseto Toskana IGT, Tenuta dell' Ornellaia, 2020

Masseto exists as a kind of argument: that Merlot, in the right place with the right hands, is capable of wines of the very highest order. The place is a single hillside in Bolgheri, with soils of clay that retain moisture and cool the vine during summer, producing a character of plushness and aromatic depth that has no precise equivalent in Tuscany. The 2020 is a wine of extraordinary completeness. The nose emerges slowly: plum preserves and blueberry compote lead into star anise, lilac, mocha, and tar in a perfume of great beauty and layered complexity. The palate is full-bodied and super-concentrated, the tannins wonderfully ripe and rounded, the acidity beautifully integrated, the finish long and opulent. Decanter awarded 100 points, with scores of 96 to 99 from other leading critics. A wine of definitive modern greatness.