Masseto 2020 embodies the perfect harmony of power, poise, and precision. Crafted predominantly from Merlot with a touch of Cabernet Franc, this iconic Tuscan red reveals profound concentration and seductive texture, with layers of dark fruit, herbs, cocoa, and fine spice. A seamless blend of opulence and finesse, it reflects the unique blue clay terroir that defines Masseto, delivering a wine of remarkable depth, polish, and longevity — a timeless expression of Italian winemaking mastery.

Jamessuckling.com | JS 99
Published: Jun 26, 2023

Intense aromas of ripe herbs, plums, green coffee beans, and hazelnuts. Turns to crushed berries and orange peel. Full-bodied with superb concentration and fine, velvety tannins that run the length of the wine. It's big but agile and gorgeous. Merlot. What a wine! Best after 2030.

Decanter | D 98
Published: Jul 1, 2023
Drink: 2023-2035

A high-flying sleek wine wine for this vintage that's built to last. Masseto 2020 reminds me of the 2000 with its milk and mint freshness, outstanding elegance and supple texture. It's a lavish wine with a magic balance between elegance and structured power. Scents of white chocolate, milk chocolate, coconut, clove and restrained cassis and leafy aromas lead to a palate full of restrained estery aromas and smooth, silky tannins. The massive mid-palate showcases super-concentration of fruit, with savouriness and warmth, then a long tobacco, graphite and mineral finish with excellent integration of an almost zesty acidity. Naturally fermented in concrete vats and aged for 24 months in 100% new French oak.
Closure: Cork
Alcohol: 15.00%
Body: Medium
Grapes: 15% Cabernet Franc 85% Merlot

The Wine Advocate | RP 96+
Published: May 31, 2023
Drink: 2026-2050 

The 2020 Masseto now sees new DNA with a touch of Cabernet Franc added to this celebrated Merlot-based icon wine. This is a vintage of enormous richness and density, and everything about the wine is taken up a notch or two (including the bottle glass weight and the 15% alcohol content). But Axel Heinz and his team are well prepared for the hot vintages like 2020, and changes to farming and canopy management ensure even ripening. This wine is always hard to analyze in its youth. It needs many more years to soften and flesh out. Give it time.

Following a very productive 17 years at Masseto and Ornellaia, Estate Director Axel Heinz announced in March of this year that he was leaving his position. He will join Château Lascombes in Bordeaux as CEO. Axel was born in Germany, raised in France and established a brilliant winemaking career in Italy. "It makes it difficult to know which national soccer team to root for," he once joked with me. Under his time at Masseto and Ornellaia, the two brands grew in respective strength with individual identities. His new releases command some of the highest prices in Italian wine and are sought after by collectors worldwide. Axel oversaw the construction of the new Masseto winery, and he launched a second wine called Massetino (new vintages of both are reviewed here). Axel was quoted in the Italian press as saying, "Italy will stay in my heart forever, but it's time to go back to France."

Jancisrobinson.com | JR 18
Published: Sep 7, 2023
Drink: 2025-2036

Merlot plus some Cabernet Franc. Harvest 14–16 September. Spontaneous fermentation with indigenous yeasts at 25–28 °C, with pumping over two or three times a day and délestages where necessary. The total time in tank ranged from 21 to 28 days. Malolactic fermentation in barriques, with 100% new oak, keeping the various batches separate for the first 12 months of ageing. Subsequently, the wines were blended and returned to barriques for another year, totalling 24 months’ oak ageing. After bottling, the wine was aged for a further 12 months before release.
Highly concentrated on both the nose and the palate, this is chock-full of opulent black fruit. The tannins are highly polished and allow the fruit to take centre stage. This has a fleshy breadth but equally impressive depth. The wood spice is generous but matched by the fruit. Very seductive but perfectly balanced with bright acids keeping everything in check. 

Masseto.com

To open a bottle is to unleash a liquid kaleidoscope. A rare combination of sumptuous opulence and polished elegance.
As a tribute to its rugged force, its softness, and the debt it owes to the soil from which it rises, Masseto was named after the rock-hard clusters of blue clay called ‘massi’ that form on the vineyard’s surface.

- 2020 -

After a mild and rainy winter, there was a temporary drop in temperatures in March, with a few nights below 0°C just when the vines began to bud in the last week of the month. Fortunately the new shoots were still protected by the downy tissue around the bud, which prevented frost damage.

The weather was generally warm during the rest of spring, with normal rainfall, ensuring regular vegetative development until blossoming, which took place between the 20th and 25th of May. A passage of heavy rain towards the middle of June was followed by a very long dry period with a substantial absence of rain and scorching temperatures until the end of August.

Veraison took place evenly and quickly between the 20th and 25th of July, triggering the ripening of the grapes under a blazing sun. Rain arrived at the end of August, leading to a considerable drop in temperatures, with overnight lows sometimes falling to 13°C, creating the ideal conditions for completing the ripening of the Merlot grapes.

They were harvested early and quickly in order to preserve their freshness as much as possible, and just in time to avoid a sudden week-long heat wave, in which temperatures soared to 37°C. The Merlot harvest was completed on the 14th of September, followed almost immediately by the Cabernet Franc harvest, which ended on the 16th of September.