FLOAT 100 · Wine · No. 31
Masseto 2016
A Merlot from a seven-hectare hill of blue clay that its own founder was reluctant to plant became, with the 2016 vintage, the first Italian wine to earn 100 points from the Wine Advocate in back-to-back years.
- Maker
- Masseto
- By price in wine
- 33 of 100
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Create a free account- Producer
- Masseto, Castagneto Carducci, Bolgheri, on the Tuscan coast
- Appellation
- Toscana IGT
- Owner
- The Frescobaldi family, sole owners since 2005
- Grape
- 100% Merlot
- Vineyard
- A single hillside of Pliocene blue clay, about 7 hectares
- Harvest
- August 24 to September 20, 2016
- Winemaking
- Made in the Ornellaia cellar; malolactic in new French barriques, then about two years in barrel in all
- Alcohol
- 15%, by one critic's account
- Estate director
- Axel Heinz, winemaker from 2005 and estate director from 2015
- Distinction
- 100 points from the Wine Advocate, following 100 for the 2015: the first Italian wine to do it in consecutive vintages
A hill nobody wanted for Cabernet
Masseto began as a corner of another estate. In 1981 Marchese Lodovico Antinori, of the Florentine wine family, founded Tenuta dell'Ornellaia in Bolgheri, next to Tenuta San Guido, the home of Sassicaia. Ornellaia, a Cabernet-led Bordeaux-style blend, made its first vintage in 1985. Until then the Tuscan coast was not known for prestigious wine, Sassicaia aside; most local wine came from farms that also grew olives and fruit.
Antinori's founding consultant was the Russian-American enologist Andre Tchelistcheff. He picked out one parcel of about seven hectares whose clay soils suited neither Cabernet and judged it ideal for Merlot. Antinori was reluctant at first, since Merlot was largely unknown in Tuscany at the time and Sassicaia, the local benchmark, used none. One story has Tchelistcheff lying flat on the ground with his ear to the soil before making his call. Axel Heinz, who later ran the estate, has said that a proper soil analysis of the kind done today would probably have ruled the idea out.
Most of the vineyard was planted in 1984, with the lower sector added in 1995. Nobody knows where the vines came from beyond an Italian nursery. The estate says the wine is named for the 'massi,' rock-hard clusters of blue clay that form on the vineyard's surface; one writer translates the word as Tuscan slang for 'as hard as a rock.'
From Antinori to the Frescobaldis
In 1986 the grapes from the Merlot plot, meant for the Ornellaia blend, were bottled on their own. Sources differ on how the first wine was labeled: one calls it 'Merlot dell'Ornellaia' and dates the Masseto name to the 1987 vintage, while the estate counts its vintages from 1986. The first winemaker was the Hungarian Tibor Gal, who aged the wine for about 18 months in 50% new oak. By 1991 the Bordeaux consultant Michel Rolland had succeeded Tchelistcheff, and he still advises the estate. Later winemakers included Thomas Duroux, who left for Chateau Palmer, and from 2005 Axel Heinz, who came from Chateau La Dominique in St-Emilion.
Ownership changed hands quickly. In November 1999 Antinori sold a stake in Ornellaia to the Robert Mondavi Winery, which then bought the rest; sources date that purchase to 2001 or 2002. Mondavi went into partnership with the Frescobaldi family, a rival Florentine dynasty, and in April 2005, after Constellation Brands acquired Mondavi, the Frescobaldis bought the remaining half. One account says Antinori considered the outcome a lasting regret. The film 'Mondovino' captured the families' conflicting versions of events.
Its high price did not deter Italian collectors, and a perfect 100-point score from an American critic for the 2001 vintage sealed its reputation as a collectible. In 2012 the company changed its name from Tenuta dell'Ornellaia to Ornellaia e Masseto, and the same year the vineyard was converted to organic farming. Bush vines, which help keep the fruit fresh in hot years, had been introduced in 2008.
2016: a dry summer and a long finish
The estate's account of 2016 begins with an unusually warm winter and heavy rain in February. Budbreak came on time in the last week of March, and the water in the soil drove quick growth in a warm April before May cooled things down. The summer was normal in temperature but nearly rainless, and the usual mid-August storms never came, so the vines stayed under water stress into the harvest. Cool nights let them recover from the heat of the day.
Picking began early, on August 24, with the younger vines. A few showers in September put enough water back in the soil to keep the vines from shutting down, and the estate says it finished under virtually perfect conditions. The old vines of the 'Masseto centrale' block kept ripening until the third week of September, and the last plots were picked on September 20. Construction of Masseto's own winery had begun that year, so the 2016 was made in the Ornellaia cellar.
Each plot was picked and fermented separately, in a mix of stainless steel, wooden vats and small barriques. The malolactic fermentation took place in 100% new French barriques, where the wine stayed for twelve months; the lots were then blended and returned to barrel for another twelve. The wine is pure Merlot. One critic who tasted it in a later vertical recorded 15% alcohol.
Two perfect scores in a row
Monica Larner of the Wine Advocate gave the 2016 100 points after awarding the same to the 2015. 'This is the first time that an Italian wine has earned 100 points in successive vintages,' she wrote. She tasted the two vintages side by side, then tasted the 2016 alone about a month later to check her impression, and called them 'identical twins, two perfect wines.' James Suckling also gave 100, making the 2016 the first Masseto to receive two perfect scores. Retailers list 97 from Wine Spectator and 94-97 from Vinous.
Tasting at the estate in 2023, Robin Lee of The World of Fine Wine gave it 100, calling it 'big and bold, and yet exquisitely poised and graceful,' with a drinking window running to 2060. The Master of Wine Serena Sutcliffe called it 'at the pinnacle of achievement for this terroir.' Tasting it again in London, John Stimpfig described the 2016 as 'a great and magisterial Masseto' that was 'only just beginning to open up.'
Masseto typically makes about 30,000 bottles a year, a small number next to other Super Tuscans; one investment merchant gives the vineyard as 6.6 hectares rather than 7. In August 2020 that merchant was offering the 2016 at 585 euros a bottle in bond. In October 2026 U.S. retailers were asking about $1,486 to $1,714 a bottle, all as pre-arrival offers.
The Caveau release and the new winery
In 2019 Masseto opened its own gravity-flow winery, designed by the architects Zito and Mori and dug into the hill next to the vineyard; the excavation exposed the same blue-gray clay that gives the wine its character. The same year it released its first second wine, Massetino, from younger Merlot and Cabernet Franc parcels. At the heart of the new building is the Caveau, a vault holding bottles of every vintage since 1986.
In April 2023 the estate sent wines straight from that vault to auction for the first time. The online sale, which ran from April 12 to 27, offered 132 bottles in 46 lots across seven vintages, including the 2016 in large formats. Each bottle was labeled 'Caveau April 2023,' carried an anti-counterfeiting seal and came in a numbered oak case with a certificate signed by Axel Heinz, and some lots included a private visit to the winery.
The sale brought in just over $400,000, almost double its $220,000 estimate. Imperials, six-liter bottles, of the 2001 and 2016 vintages each sold for more than $16,000, and a 15-liter bottle of the 2010 set a record for a single bottle of Masseto at more than $60,000. Since 2013 every bottle leaving the winery has carried an anti-counterfeiting seal that buyers can check on the estate's website.
The numbers
- Vineyard
- About 7 ha of Pliocene blue clay (one merchant gives 6.6 ha), about 4,000 vines per ha at 100-110 m
- Production
- About 30,000 bottles in an average year
- Wine Advocate
- 100 (Monica Larner)
- James Suckling
- 100
- The World of Fine Wine
- 100 (Robin Lee, 2023)
- Wine Spectator
- 97, as listed by retailers
- Vinous
- 94-97, as listed by one retailer
Timeline
Lodovico Antinori founds Tenuta dell'Ornellaia in Bolgheri.
Most of the Masseto hillside is planted to Merlot on Andre Tchelistcheff's advice.
The Merlot plot is bottled separately for the first time.
The first vintage labeled Masseto, by one account.
Michel Rolland is consulting for the estate by this year.
The lower sector of the vineyard is planted.
Robert Mondavi Winery buys a stake in Ornellaia.
The Frescobaldi family takes full ownership.
Axel Heinz becomes winemaker.
The vineyard is converted to organic farming; the company becomes Ornellaia e Masseto.
Construction of Masseto's own winery begins.
The 2016 harvest begins with the younger vines.
The last plots of the 2016 are picked.
Masseto's new winery opens and Massetino is first released.
A merchant reports the 2016 as the first Masseto with two 100-point scores.
The Caveau auction opens, running to April 27; a 2016 imperial sells for more than $16,000.
Marco Balsimelli becomes winemaker.
The world in 2016
Suicide bombings at Brussels airport and a metro station kill 32 people.
The Panama Papers, 11.5 million leaked documents, are published.
The United Kingdom votes to leave the European Union.
A truck attack during Bastille Day celebrations in Nice kills 86 people.
The Summer Olympics open in Rio de Janeiro, the first held in South America.
On the day Masseto began picking, a magnitude 6.2 earthquake in central Italy kills 299 people.
The Chicago Cubs win the World Series for the first time since 1908.
Italy's constitutional referendum fails and Prime Minister Matteo Renzi announces his resignation.
Price record
| Date | Price | Kind |
|---|---|---|
| Oct 2026 | $14,000 | Asking price, not a saleU.S. retailer, one 6-liter bottle. Not a sale. |
This is an asking price, not a sale. It is what a seller wanted on the date shown. Asking prices often sit above what buyers pay, but an ask is not a ceiling: a sale can land on either side of it. It is not a value.
By reference price, Masseto 2016 is number 33 of 100 in the wine entries of the FLOAT 100. 12 of those 100 rest on a realized sale; the rest carry an asking price or a guide value, and each page says which. Rank within the FLOAT 100 itself (31 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.
Did you know
- Masseto's founder was reluctant to plant Merlot at all, because almost nobody in Tuscany grew it at the time.
- Axel Heinz has said the Merlot at Masseto regularly has a lower pH than the Cabernet Sauvignon at Ornellaia, and that he never acidified either wine.
- Masseto's 2016 harvest began on August 24, the same day an earthquake struck central Italy.
- Bottles sold from the estate's vault in 2023 carried the words 'Caveau April 2023' on the label.
- A 15-liter bottle of the 2010, one of 20 made, set the record for a single bottle of Masseto at that sale.
- In Tibor Gal's day Masseto saw about 18 months in half-new oak; today it spends two years in all-new barrels.
How this page is made
- The figure
- One reference price, shown with its own kind. FLOAT does not average it with anything or adjust it for time.
- Realized or not
- A realized price is a completed sale. An asking price, an estimate and a price-guide value are not sales, and are labeled as such wherever they appear.
- The story
- Researched from published records and checked fact by fact. Updated Oct 1, 2026.
- Archive
- Oct 5, 2026