Mary H

9.1

Smooth and soft tannins. Plush red fruit, tomato, spice. — 20 days ago

Bruce Leboff

9.3

Really nice. Nowhere near as profound as the Solaia earlier in the week. This is drinking well classic Sangiovese dark fruit on the nose. A hint of chocolate on the finish. — 4 years ago

with David

Mark Turner

10

Part of Super Tuscan Horizontal tasting. All 2016 vintage Masseto, Ornellaia, Sassicaia, Solaia, Tignanello, Redigafi, and a mystery bottle (Phelps Insignia). Off the charts good. Immense density of fruit. Big mouthfeel, incredibly well balanced. Cherry, chocolate, blueberry, tobacco, cedar. This was by far the most expensive bottle in the tasting and It was completely worth it. Believe the hype and the ratings. This was phenomenal. Favorite of the night. — 5 years ago

with Jared, Craig and 2 others

Rick Wolfen

9.6

The best! Close your eyes and imagine you are on a beautiful patio in a restaurant on top of a hill at sunset looking down on Tuscany and taking your first sip - Instead of being in the Q!!! — 6 years ago

Dave Weick

9.5

2004 vintage. WOTN, drinking great. Classic Brunello with excellent fruit, aged refined tannins. Compared positively to 06 Solaia & 06 Sassontino. Will last for another decade but drinking great now. — 9 years ago

Richard Young

Wine Specialist Christie's

9.5

Both 2001s in a good place right now. Ornelaia a bit more concentration, Solaia more savoury — 10 years ago

with Christie's

B

10

2001 Poggio Antica Brunello. Two bottles at Sunday dinner at Toscana w K and crew. This was the youngest wine and that def showed. Super inky, thick, and tannic. Hard for this one to shine competing against the magnum of Solaia or the Conterno. — 11 years ago

Ameilia Douglas

9.8

Slightly past its prime, drink 2009 now. Tannins have balanced out, very smooth but has lost some of the quality flavours of past bottles. — 6 months ago

with William

Mark Turner

9.9

This was the mystery bottle in our Super Tuscan tasting event. It was up against the 2016 Masseto, Ornellaia, Sassicaia, Solaia, Tignanello, and Redigaffi. This wine was outstanding. Probably one of the top 5 vintages of Insignia since 1994 in my opinion. Deep purple color, blueberry, blackberry, chocolate, some lead pencil and earth on the nose. Super smooth and elegant on the palate. Really well balanced fruit, tannins, acid. Long elegant finish of dark fruit and earthy with a touch of spice that lingered beautifully. We decanted this and all others about 2.5 hours prior to tasting. Second favorite of the night behind the Masseto which was a force of nature. — 5 years ago

with Jared, Craig and 2 others

Mark Turner

9.8

Part of Super Tuscan Horizontal tasting. All 2016 vintage Masseto, Ornellaia, Sassicaia, Solaia, Tignanello, Redigafi, and a mystery bottle (Phelps Insignia). Great black fruit and cherry. Coffee, cedar, chocolate, oak. All came together nicely. Super smooth on the palate and a long drawn out finish where the fruit lingered over the top of some earthy graphite notes. Very enjoyable wine. — 5 years ago

with Craig, Jared and 2 others

B

10

3L 1999 Valdicava Madonna Del Piano. Latm dinner at Ner. Table was split between this and 1998 Solaia in 750. I preferred Solaia. Thought this lacked finish and complexity. — 7 years ago

B

10

2008 Roda I Tempranillo. Lunch at RW. Drank alongside the '89 Solaia. This wine was excellent. Decanted before serving- abt 30 min before pouring. It's def a big wine, but not too tannic or acidic. Fruity, chewy and threat w rich foods- chicken liver toast, wings, red sauce pizza. Excellent. — 9 years ago

B

9.5

Magnum 1996 Hubert Lignier Clos de la Roche burgundy. Group dinner at Pr. Drank this before the 1998 Solaia. We were back and forth on this wine. We decanted about an hour before pouring, and at first, we thought it was tight and/or the wine had not been stored totally perfectly. It opened up as the night wore on, but it wasn't a superstar. It might have been a funky bottle, but it wasn't "bad" or "off"- it just wasn't as good as K had hoped. — 10 years ago

B

10

1997 Giacomo Conterno Monfortino Riserva Barolo. Two bottles at Sunday dinner at Toscana w K and crew. Great wine. Mellowed, but still fruity and tannic. Not as massive as the Solaia. — 11 years ago

Bob McDonald

9.5

Delectable - this is the Riserva. Dining at Do Forni in Venice which won a Grand Award for its Wine List from Wine Spectator. They have amazing verticals of Cuvées like Sassicaia, Solaia, Gaja, Tignanello etc…and, of course, Biondi Santi. I was hoping to pick a Soldera but only a magnum left at a hideous price. An aged tawny rim, tinge of orange. Burnt orange peel and Georgie thought a note of rubber. An Animale/Gamey note which didn’t detract. Dried cherry, loamy notes like the previous night’s Salvioni. This is Brunello royalty which is ridiculously long lived. At 19 years of age this is infanticide for Biondi Santi. We visited the winery about 6 years ago where I bought a 2001 which hasn’t even entered its drinking window yet. Medium plus tannins. This was a special treat. — 3 years ago

with Georgina

Mark Turner

9.6

Part of Super Tuscan Horizontal tasting. All 2016 vintage Masseto, Ornellaia, Sassicaia, Solaia, Tignanello, Redigafi, and a mystery bottle (Phelps Insignia). I got a lot of plumb and black cherry on the nose with a little tobacco and chocolate. On the plate it was soft, rich and balanced. Finished with some spicy notes. Very enjoyable, but did not stand out relative to others in the tasting, but that’s only because of the competition. — 5 years ago

with Jared, Craig and 2 others

Mark Turner

9.3

Part of Super Tuscan Horizontal tasting. All 2016 vintage Masseto, Ornellaia, Sassicaia, Solaia, Tignanello, Redigafi, and a mystery bottle (Phelps Insignia). The color of this wine was red, not purple like I was expecting. It was more Burgundian than Bordeaux-like. A bit on the subtle side. Refined. Still had good cherry and other red fruits, not overly tannic or oaky like I was expecting. This was a good wine, but my least favorite of the night. We had 2 bottles at the tasting and both drank the same. Not the typical Sassicaia profile and definitely not a 100 pt wine in my opinion. It was enough different than other Sassicaia I have had over the years that it left me scratching my head. I plan to source another bottle form a different purveyor to see if this was just an off lot. It was sourced from a reputable provider and has been in my cellar settling for a few months. — 5 years ago

with Jared, Craig and 2 others

Lisa Wilfong

9.6

Delicious! Definitely in the same ball game as Solaia and Sassicaia — 8 years ago

Marti Zuccarello

9.3

The Southern Hemisphere yin to the yang of Solaia - structured and deep without being too weighty... wears 10 yes very well. #Harasdepirque #Antinorifamily #Albis2006 — 10 years ago

B

9.5

Magnum 1990 Bruno Giacosa Falletto Di Serralunga d'Alba Riserva Barolo. Drank at Reddwood lunch w B&K K, J&L B, and M&R H. Second of the red lineup. This followed the magnum '98 Solaia. We all thought this wine tasted a lot older than its age. Perhaps stored a bit improperly at some point? It didn't drink poorly, but everyone at the table would have guessed it much older than a 1990- sweeter and shorter finish than anticipated. — 10 years ago