Masseto Toscana IGT 2020

In 2008, Masseto became the first Italian wine distributed through the Place de Bordeaux — a commercial declaration that this seven-hectare Bolgheri hillside answers to Pomerol, not Chianti. The 2020 is only the second vintage to quietly transgress the estate's own 100% Merlot identity: a small, undisclosed percentage of Cabernet Franc enters the blend for the first time since 2019, a deliberate structural decision whose full logic the estate has yet to articulate publicly.

The Masseto hill sits on former Pliocene clay quarry terrain — dense blue-grey clay that functions as a natural cistern, releasing stored moisture through dry Tyrrhenian summers while hardening to restrict root penetration and concentrate the vine's output. Three sub-plots are vinified separately: Masseto Alto (110 m elevation; clay, sand, pebbles — linearity and structure), Masseto Centrale (densest Pliocene clay — opulence and tannin mass), and Masseto Junior (70 m; youngest vines — breadth and softness). Marine breezes from the coast 10 km west moderate ripening and preserve acidity despite the clay's heat retention.

Hand-harvested in 15 kg crates with multiple passes, double-sorted, then fermented in 65 hL tulip-shaped concrete tanks at 25–30°C for 21–28 days — gravity-flow throughout the underground winery opened in 2019. 100% new French oak barriques carry malolactic conversion and the first 12 months of aging; the blended wine returns to barrel for a further 12 months, then rests a minimum 12 months in bottle before release. The 2020 scores 97 pts aggregate; drinking window opens 2027.