Wine Club Miami Steps On the Gas with Masseto & Fleet of Super Tuscans

The private club's September tasting featured unforgettable bottles that should be on your wish list

The most anticipated tasting of 2024 was our dive into the iconic Super Tuscans. On Wednesday, September 25th, we walked into Mamo restaurant in Brickell wearing suits and ties. Blame it on our long hiatus since our Champagne tasting in June or on the double decanted bottle of Masseto 2004 planted on the white table cloth…opening like Act I of Richard III and ready to deliver like Laurence Olivier.

The lineup consisted of some of the biggest names in the Super Tuscan category:

• Masseto 2004

• Tenuta Luce 2005

• Mazzei Siepi 2017

• Tenuta Sette Ponti Oreno Toscana 2017

• Sassicaia 2020

• Ornellaia 2020

What is ‘Super Tuscan’? The term is generally defined as Italian wines made from, or blended with, Bordeaux varietals such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc or Petit Verdot. It all started in the mid-1900s when legendary names such as Marchesi Mario Incisa della Rocchetta and nephew Piero Antinori became interested in making wines in the Bordeaux style. So they started to blend local Sangiovese with Cabernet, leading to iconic wines such as Sassicaia and Tignanello that ended up inspiring producers in the winegrowing area of Bolgheri, along the Tuscan coast, to make wines with international grape varieties not native to Italy.

Ornellaia ring a bell?

The wines we tasted came from Bolgheri (seen above). Courtesy of Wine Spectator

The Tenuta Luce was our warm up wine. The group consensus was that this wine was a bit tired but still full of a life well lived. It showed plenty of development but shied away from tertiary aromas that bring older wines to the heavenly level. Roasted red fruit and layers of fine leather marked this wine. A surprise favorite, and easily the best quality to price ratio, was the Mazzei Siepi. It’s a perfect blend of Merlot and Sangiovese that was outstanding and surprised all of us for its herbal freshness and balanced acidity, alcohol and gravelly tannins. It is by far the oldest producer in the squad with the most experience, having made wine for 600+ years…and even helping Thomas Jefferson plant his Virginia vineyards in the 1700s. Bravo Mazzei!

The interlude was Oreno Toscana, a very strong and powerful wine that stood out in color thanks to a decent amount of Petit Verdot. It was the ‘surprise’ wine graciously donated by member Wesley Castellanos. The let down of the group was Sassicaia 2020. This is where expectation may have gotten the best of us, but this wine struggled to keep up with the quality pace of the others. The wine was very light on the palate, a bit too delicate in structure and subdued flavor. Sassicaia did get slightly better over time, but all of these wines had gotten to the 3hr decant mark by this point. As a very young Super Tuscan, we are willing to give it another chance in several years.

The Ornellaia 2020 was firing on all cylinders. Young but ready to ride the bull into the night, this red blend led by Cabernet was deep, extremely tightly wound but majestic in the elegant was it carried its power. A very enjoyable red to watch Raging Bull with, accompanied by a bowl of homemade Bolognese.

Then the moment came. Masseto. A dream wine for many, attainable by few. No amount of expectation could’ve ruined this experience. We emptied our glasses, got silent, awaited the greatness to be poured. We all dug our noses into the glass at once.

A collective sigh. Absurdity.

It wasn’t Bordeaux. It wasn’t Super Tuscan. It was singular. Timeless. Masseto.

An epic finish, layered dreams like Inception, a Top 5 wine among many. Twenty years had done much yet nothing to this wine. It was full of youth yet deeply complex. Like Albert Einstein in a 13-year-old. Epic on all proportions. Above all, emotional.

Following our Miami spice prix fixe and amazing raviolini al tartufo, we took time to celebrate co-president Matt Hege’s birthday!