Ornellaia Vendemmia d'Artista honors the uniqueness of each new Ornellaia vintage. Every year since May 2009, the release of Ornellaia 2006, a modern artist creates an artwork and a series of limited edition labels, inspired by the word chosen by the winemaker to describe the character of the new vintage.

Argentinian artist Tomás Saraceno created the unique labels for the 12th Vendemmia d'Artista. The artist is known for his interactive installations, with which he imagines new sustainable ways of living on earth. For Solare, Ornellaia 2017, he was inspired by the sun, the primary source of energy and life, and by the relationship between man and nature.

2017 will be one of the hottest, driest years ever. This was already evident at the beginning, due to a particularly mild winter with temperatures on average three degrees warmer than the long-term average and a normal amount of precipitation. The buds therefore ran out much earlier than usual, about two weeks. The vegetative cycle combined with high temperatures and little rain in March followed by a sudden drop in temperature at the end of April, causing frost in much of Tuscany. Thanks to the soothing effects of the sea, temperatures on the coast remained above zero, causing no damage to the young buds. The hot, dry weather returned
in May, which slowed down the further vegetative development of the vines and the size of the bunches, the fruit set proceeded under perfect conditions. While it hardly rained in July and August, the warm weather was happily alternated with cooler temperatures at night.
The harvest started early, with the first merlot grapes on August 24, and continued through the last week of September. During this time it was warm and the sky remained clear. From mid-September there was a bit more rain, which had a cooling effect and therefore perfect conditions for the later-ripening grape varieties.

The hand-picked clusters were collected in 15 kg cartons, and hand-sorted on a double sorting table, before and after destemination, and finally crushed gently. Since 2016, an optical selection has been introduced, in addition to the manual selection, in order to further increase the quality of the selection.
Each grape variety and each unique block of the vineyards is vinified separately. Fermentation took place in stainless steel and concrete tanks at a temperature of less than 25 ° C for one week, followed by 10-15 days of maceration. Oak barrels have been used for malolactic fermentation, 70% of which are new and 30% have been used once before.
The wine was aged for 18 months in the barriques, in the temperature-controlled cellars of Ornellaia. After the first 12 months of aging, the wine is assembled, after which the wine has rested in the barriques for another 6 months. After bottling, this wine matured for a further 12 months before the wine was released.

Ornellaia, one of the Italian 'premiers crus' is a remarkable cuvee made from vineyards grown on the exceptional terroirs of the estate in the municipality of Castagneto Carducci. With an extremely selective production, Ornellaia embodies a unique quality and style and is known as one of the best wines of Italy. The La Tensione Ornellaia is a blend of 56% CABERNET SAUVIGNON - 25% MERLOT - 10% PETIT VERDOT - 9% CABERNET FRANC. The 2017 Ornellaia is a firm and powerful young red with a linear line of tannins and fruit through it. Very seriously. 96/100 JS