Solaia 2016

A wine that began as a surplus

Solaia grew out of Tignanello. In the early 1970s Piero Antinori and his enologist Giacomo Tachis broke the Chianti Classico rules of the day, which required white grapes in the blend and did not allow foreign varieties, and released Tignanello as a humble 'vino da tavola.' One writer reports that it soon sold for four or five times the price of most Chianti Classico. Accounts of its first years differ: one dates the first commercial Tignanello to the 1971 vintage, another says it was launched in 1974 with that vintage, and a third describes a special cuvee first labeled from the Tignanello vineyard in 1970.

In 1978, as Piero Antinori later wrote in his book 'The Hills of Chianti,' the Cabernet Sauvignon grown for Tignanello did exceptionally well. A cool, wet spring and a hot, dry summer left more good Cabernet than Tignanello needed, so the team bottled the surplus, only 3,600 bottles, to see how it would age. The vines were young, and Antinori was unsure whether the market 'was ready for a wine from the heart of Chianti Classico made only with foreign grape varieties.' When 1979 also proved excellent for Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc, they decided 'to go for it.'

According to that account, the new wine went on sale in 1981, and its reception encouraged the family to release some of the experimental 1978 bottles too. The winery says the first two vintages were 80% Cabernet Sauvignon and 20% Cabernet Franc, and that Sangiovese, about 20%, was added in later years. One obituary of Tachis instead describes the 1978 as 75% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Cabernet Franc and 20% Sangiovese; the winery's own figure is used here.

Twenty-six generations and one enologist

The Antinori family dates its wine business to 1385, when Giovanni di Piero Antinori joined the Arte Fiorentina dei Vinattieri, the Florentine winemakers' guild, and says it has been run directly by the family for twenty-six generations. In 1506 the family bought the Palazzo Antinori in Florence for 4,000 florins. In 1900 a Piero Antinori bought vineyards in Chianti Classico, including land at Tignanello.

Giacomo Tachis, born in Turin in 1933 and trained in enology at Alba, was hired by Niccolo Antinori in 1961. When Niccolo's son Piero joined the company in 1966, the two set out to lift the quality of Tuscan wine, which was then in what one obituary called 'a dark period' of high-yielding clones and old, dirty barrels. Tachis looked to Bordeaux and persuaded Emile Peynaud, the leading enologist of the time, to consult in Tuscany. Tachis worked for Antinori for 30 years, left in 1992, and died on February 6, 2016, the year this vintage was grown. He described Solaia as 'Cabernet that has learned to do things the Tuscan way.'

Renzo Cotarella, Antinori's chief executive and winemaker, describes the vineyard's 24 or 25 parcels, on shallow soils, as giving grapes that 'have pungency and vibrancy and a nervous energy.' Piero Antinori says Solaia taught him that Cabernet could carry a Tuscan sense of place, and that 'the sacred bond between grape and area of origin, which had characterized and in some ways hindered Italian winemaking for centuries, was severed once and for all.'

2016: cool, slow and even

The winery describes a mild, rainy late fall and winter, then a spring that pushed bud break about ten days ahead of normal. May and the first half of June brought some rain and cool weather that did not harm flowering. From then to the end of August it was warm and dry with no heat spikes, and the harvest itself was regular, with occasional rain alternating with sun and wind. The winery gives total rainfall for the year as 41.2 inches, with 16.7 inches between April 1 and October 13, and an average temperature of 66.8 degrees Fahrenheit over the same period.

Picking began with the Sangiovese in the last week of September. The Cabernet Franc followed from September 28 to October 1, and the Cabernet Sauvignon from October 3 to October 12. One English critic's report gives a different order, with Cabernet Franc first at the end of September and Sangiovese from September 28 to October 1; the winery's dates are used here. That report quotes Albiera Antinori calling 2016 'one of the best vintages ever.'

In the cellar the berries were destemmed and sorted on a table before going into 60-hectoliter conical fermenting tanks. After the wine was run off its skins, malolactic fermentation took place in small oak barrels. The first stage of aging lasted ten months in new 60-gallon French oak barrels, the lots were then blended, and the wine finished its time in oak. The same critic's report says that from 2016 the team began ordering only 20 to 30% of its barrels before harvest and the rest afterward, so that the barrels could be made to suit the year.

The winemaker's note calls 2016 an exceptional vintage, cooler than 2015 with light rains, and a Solaia that is 'slightly shyer, introverted, in certain aspects even more fascinating than the previous year.'

The vineyard and the bottle

The winery describes Solaia as a 20-hectare (50-acre) vineyard facing southwest at 350 to 400 meters, on stony soil of alberese, a hard limestone, and galestro, a flaky calcareous clay. One reference gives the vineyard as 10 hectares; the sources disagree. The vineyard lies on the Tignanello estate, which the winery says covers 319 hectares, about 165 of them under vine. The name means 'the sunny one,' or in another translation 'a place where the sun radiates.'

The 2016 blend is 73% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Sangiovese and 7% Cabernet Franc according to the winery's technical note as reproduced by retailers, while one English critic gives 72%, 20% and 8% and says Cabernet Franc had been increased because of warmer seasons. The wine is bottled at 14% alcohol and labeled Toscana IGT.

Solaia is made only in strong years. The winery says it was not produced in 1980, 1981, 1983, 1984 or 1992, and the cold, wet 2002 was made entirely from Cabernet because the Sangiovese did not ripen. One writer puts average production at about 60,000 to 65,000 bottles, and one critic noted that 2016 production was about 20% lower than 2015's. No exact 2016 bottle count was found.

Two perfect vintages in a row

Monica Larner of the Wine Advocate, reviewing it in September 2019, gave the 2016 100 points after tasting three samples under different conditions, tasting it blind against its peers and setting it again and again beside the 2015, to which she had also given a perfect score. She confessed to 'a few nights of restless sleep' over it and summed up the pair this way: 'I feel like 2015 is the Dolce & Gabbana of the situation and the 2016 is the Armani Prive.' She suggested drinking it from 2022 to 2050. James Suckling also gave it 100, writing, 'I thought the 2015 was already perfect but this is perfect, too,' and advised waiting until after 2025.

The wine's earlier record set the stage: the 1997 Solaia was named Wine of the Year in 2000 by Wine Spectator. In 2021, a bottle of the 2016 was Antinori's choice for a single numbered case assembled by the twelve families of Primum Familiae Vini, each contributing one great wine, which was offered at auction in London in March 2021 with an estimate of 35,000 to 100,000 pounds for the whole case.

By 2026 most U.S. retailers listed the 2016 as sold out. Their last listed prices for a single 750ml bottle were $399.99, $415.80 and $549.95; another retailer listed it at $555.45 a bottle with a six-bottle minimum. These are asking prices, not sales. At auction the wine usually appears in cases of six or three bottles rather than as single bottles.

The numbers

Vineyard

20 ha per the winery (10 ha in one reference), 350-400 m, facing southwest

Production

About 60,000-65,000 bottles in an average year (2016 figure not published; about 20% below 2015 per one critic)

Wine Advocate

100 (Monica Larner, September 2019)

James Suckling

100

Vinous

99 (Antonio Galloni)

Wine & Spirits

99, as listed by a retailer

Wine Spectator

98

Wine Enthusiast

97, as listed by a retailer

Gambero Rosso

Tre Bicchieri

Timeline

1. 1385

   Giovanni di Piero Antinori joins the Florentine winemakers' guild, the family's founding date in wine.

2. Feb 2, 1506

   The family buys Palazzo Antinori in Florence for 4,000 florins.

3. 1900

   Piero Antinori buys vineyards in Chianti Classico, including land at Tignanello.

4. 1961

   Niccolo Antinori hires the Piedmontese enologist Giacomo Tachis.

5. 1966

   Piero Antinori joins the family company.

6. 1978

   Surplus Cabernet from the Tignanello vineyards becomes the first Solaia, about 3,600 bottles.

7. 1981

   Solaia is released onto the market, by one account, after the 1979 vintage convinces the family to go ahead.

8. 1992

   Tachis leaves Antinori after 30 years; Solaia is not made that year.

9. 2000

   The 1997 Solaia is named Wine Spectator's Wine of the Year.

10. Feb 6, 2016

    Giacomo Tachis dies at 82.

11. 2016

    Bud break comes about ten days early in Chianti Classico.

12. Sep 2016

    Sangiovese picking begins in the last week of September.

13. Sep 28, 2016

    Cabernet Franc harvest begins; it ends October 1.

14. Oct 3, 2016

    Cabernet Sauvignon harvest begins; it ends October 12.

15. Sep 2019

    The Wine Advocate gives the 2016 Solaia 100 points.

16. Mar 2021

    A bottle of the 2016 goes into the Primum Familiae Vini case offered at auction in London.

17. Dec 14, 2022

    A ten-vintage vertical of Solaia from 1998 to 2018, tasted at Tenuta Tignanello, is published.

The world in 2016

• Jan 28, 2016

  The World Health Organization announces an outbreak of the Zika virus.

• Jun 23, 2016

  The United Kingdom votes in a referendum to leave the European Union.

• Aug 5, 2016

  The Summer Olympics open in Rio de Janeiro, the first Games held in South America.

• Aug 24, 2016

  A magnitude 6.2 earthquake hits central Italy, killing 299 people.

• Sep 3, 2016

  The United States and China formally join the Paris climate agreement.

• Nov 8, 2016

  Donald Trump is elected the 45th President of the United States.

• Dec 4, 2016

  An Italian constitutional referendum fails, and Prime Minister Matteo Renzi resigns.

Price record

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, Solaia 2016 is number 73 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 (51 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.

Did you know

• The first Solaia, from 1978, was bottled only as an experiment with surplus Cabernet, about 3,600 bottles.
• Giacomo Tachis, the enologist who created Solaia with Piero Antinori, died in February 2016, the year this vintage was grown.
• The critic who gave the 2016 100 points compared it and the 2015 to Armani Prive and Dolce & Gabbana.
• Solaia was skipped entirely in 1980, 1981, 1983, 1984 and 1992.
• The 2002 Solaia contains no Sangiovese at all, because a cold, wet year left it unripe.
• Antinori's wine business is older than the discovery of America: the family dates it to 1385.