Second Coming: Le Serre Nuove dell’Ornellaia
While second labels from acclaimed houses can, to connoisseurs, feel somewhat less than the main event, winemaker Axel Heinz is ensuring that Le Serre Nuove dell’Ornellaia stands on its own reputation, writes Rupert Millar.
IT’S A tough gig being the second label of a prestigious estate. Of course, it might seem like the simple life. You get all the glamour of being associated with your more famous stable mate; get invited to all the right parties; hang out with all the right people.
But while you’re always welcome, if you’re ever out on your own, deep down you and everyone else knows that you’re the second choice to what everyone would rather see. The support act, the pale imitation… the cheaper option.
We’ve seen in recent years the rising tide of the second labels of the Bordeaux first growths, Carruades de Lafite, Petit Mouton et al.
Their success on the secondary market has been enormous, buoyed by the brand power of their producing estate, and giving a taste of the grand vin to a keen and thirsty audience but one with a slightly less powerful wallet. Yet, while
canny buyers have made great gains from these wines, they’ll always be handicapped by the fact that they are not the grand vin, and therefore their prices can never exceed those of their more famous sibling. No matter how close they
might come, like two positive ends of a magnet held together they will naturally maintain a respectful distance.
It’s a challenge recognised by Axel Heinz, the winemaker and estate director at Super Tuscan Ornellaia. The Bolgheri estate was the first in the region to introduce a second wine, in 1997 – Le Serre Nuove dell’Ornellaia.
It’s a wine that has “come a long way”, says Heinz, but nevertheless it has, “faced the typical challenges second wines have to face.”
The estate’s solution, he explained, has been to focus on carving out a position for Le Serre Nuove. “You have to make a wine that stands on its own, with its own personality, its own style.”
This is more difficult than it might sound, and it’s not just a case of Le Serre being being more Merlot-led than its older sibling (which it is). For one thing, like all second labels, it has to be “as satisfying as a young vintage from Ornellaia, without limiting its [own] ageing capacity,” Heinz said.
POTENTIAL OF THE TERROIR
Partner Content
Vine age has proved a much-needed ally in this regard. As Heinz says:“When vineyards start to age you get an idea of the potential of the terroir.
“It takes five to eight years, so that has helped us, and today we have a better idea of the profile that suits Le Serre.”
What these tend to be are sites with sandier soils and usually a little fresher and earlier picking. Not that there is a strict hierarchy to the sites at Ornellaia. In theory, every site has the potential to be used in the first label, and even if the technical team knows that one site always makes it into Ornellaia and another is always the backbone of Le Serre, Heinz explains that you don’t want to fall into the trap of treating any one plot differently from another for that reason.
And with this knowledge and as more the vineyard area has increased at Ornellaia over the years this has opened up, Heinz continued, “a broader choice of vineyards and we can afford to put wines that would be [part of] Ornellaia to benefit Le Serre. It’s a luxury we have that helps Le Serre stand on its own feet a little better.” Ultimately, the beauty of second labels such as Le Serre is their flexibility. “It can be enjoyed as a young wine but, if you give it enough time, it can age into something of great complexity,” he says. Heinz was talking during a Zoom call to introduce the latest vintage of Le Serre Nuove, the 2018, and the accompanying tasting also included the 2013 and 2005 vintages.
The 2005 was Heinz’s first vintage at the estate, and while he says Le Serre Nuove has evolved in that time, and “should always be a wine ready to drink upon release”, that older vintage certainly showed what he means about this being
an age worthy cuvée; the wine showing secondary characteristics of dried red fruits and an earthy, forest floor note, as well as firm but integrated tannins.
Over the past 20 years, Heinz says he believes Le Serre Nuove has become “a leader of Italian second wines” but also of the Denominazione di Origine Controllata (DOC) to which it belongs, Bolgheri Rosso.
And this is where Heinz clearly envisages Le Serre Nuove finding its place in the world. Unlike Carruades or Le Petit Mouton, which can never hope to be considered among the truly great wines of Pauillac, Le Serre Nuove can rise to a position of high status in its own sphere.
“I’d love to see it in the top 10 of very best Bolgheri Rosso wines,” says Heinz. On the evidence of the wines being produced 15 years ago up to the present day, that feels like an achievable goal.
