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The 2022 vintage was a tale of challenge and resilience. After a hot, dry summer lasting 75 days, characteristic summer storms in August restored the physiological balance of the vines, and cool September nights were ideal for the accumulation of sugars, aromas, and tannins. This resulted in concentrated, powerful grapes with a unique personality.

The 2022 Masseto pours a vibrant, bright red, expressing an immediate concentration of small red fruits. The palate is rich and luscious, with a seductive flavor. The wine is naturally powerful, with firm yet elegant tannins, finding a perfect balance between strength and finesse that always defines its style. This wine is a liquid kaleidoscope, a tribute to its rugged force, its softness, and the debt it owes to the soil from which it rises.

Masseto’s vineyard is perched on the rugged Bolgheri hills and kissed by the Mediterranean breeze—delivering grapes that captured the essence of the land’s raw beauty and energy.

The vineyard’s unique blue clay soil, formed over millions of years, is the secret behind Masseto’s power. These rock-hard ‘massi’ clusters lock in the vineyard’s history, creating a wine that’s steeped in both geology and genius. Masseto isn’t just wine—it’s earth in a glass.

At Masseto, less is more. The winemaking philosophy here is about letting the land take the lead. The vines battle the elements, and the winemaking team steps in only when absolutely necessary. No fancy tricks, no overcomplication—just pure, powerful grapes expressing their full potential. This is a wine made with respect for its environment and a dedication to simplicity.

“Everything revolves around an extraordinary, fragile vineyard, and a wine crafted with the utmost care. We have tanks. We have barrels. We have gravity flow. And we have people who live for this wine. That’s our philosophy.” ~ Lamberto Frescobaldi, Marchesi Frescobaldi President

For over 700 years, the Frescobaldi family has been shaping Tuscany’s winemaking history. Masseto is their crowning glory—a testament to tradition, innovation, and an unwavering commitment to excellence.

24 months in 100% new oak, followed by a further 12 months in bottle.

ABV: 15%

• 2022 Masseto Toscana IGT  (97-98 pts)

~ 98 Alexandre MA

Brilliant, powerful ruby colour with a slight purple tinge. Opens with notes of cigar box, then plenty of cassis and blackberry, cardamom on the finish. Round and supple on the palate, like pure velvet, opens with lots of finely woven tannins, great depth, lots of fruit and tobacco on the finish. ~ 98 Falstaff

The summer was so arid in 2022 that the vines shut down and ripening was halted until mid-August rains arrived. This helped to preserve acidity in the grapes, giving sensational freshness to balance the rich and finely structured palate. Masseto 2022, then, combines the best of both worlds: fruit ripeness and concentration, and freshness and poise. It's not as immediately seductive as the 2021, but there is so much potential in this long-lived vintage. Scents of cool, damp earth, dark hedgerow berries, Mediterranean scrub, and cocoa and wood give a sense of what is to come once time has untangled everything. Zingy, crunchy acidity steals the show early on, segueing into a mouthful of succulent yet dense dark berries and spice imbued with plenty of energy. Then some balsamic herbs and floral notes lighten the palate, before a touch of salinity and some bitter herbs emerge on the finish, with a refrain of bright cherry. Something special. Drinking Window: 2026-2050. ~ 98 Decanter

This vintage of the 2022 Masseto is 100% Merlot. The nose is pronounced, leading with its mineral aromas of crushed dark stones. It smells like dissolved minerals, delicate peppery accents, black plum, red apples, lavender perfume, and sage. The aromatics are quite profound in this vintage, and on the palate, it’s full-bodied and more structured, with ripe tannins and a good deal of depth and richness, with the minerality shining through. Long on the palate, it’s generous all the way through, and while it feels approachable upfront, more structure comes through on the finish. Allow it some time in cellar and drink 2028-2058." ~ 98 Jeb Dunnuck 

A solid and structured red with blackcurrant, chocolate and walnut aromas and underlying toasted wood. Medium- to full-bodied with chewy tannins and a chewy, savory finish. Hints of coconut and toasted oak. It’s muscular and toned. It needs time to soften. Best after 2028. ~ 97 James Suckling

Cocoa bean, campfire, creamy raspberry fruits, fragrant and concentrated, plenty of grilled coffee beans and orange peel, complex, concentrated, nuanced, great quality. 24 months ageing in 100% new oak, then 12 months in bottle before release. Gaia Cinnirella winemaker, Marco Balsimelli production director at this wonderful 11ha property owned by the Frescobaldi family. ~ 97 Jane Anson - Inside Bordeaux

This red is both well-structured and framed with new oak nuances of vanilla, toast and resin, setting the stage for plum, blackberry, fruitcake, mineral and tobacco flavors. There’s a salty element interwoven throughout, along with a fluid feel. Offers fine grip on the lingering finish, so give the dense tannins some time to integrate. Merlot. Best from 2028 through 2043. 410 cases imported. ~ 96 Wine Spectator

The 2022 Masseto is soft, open-knit and relatively easygoing. The mid-weight structure of the year is very much in evidence in a wine that speaks more to finesse than power. Dark red cherry, plum, new leather, licorice and incense gradually open over time, supported by fine, silky tannins that wrap it all together in style. Masseto is typically much more potent in the early going, in 2022 the more refined style that has begun to emerge here along with the style of the year yield a Masseto that is quite elegant. Its balance is beyond reproach, especially in the integration of something that usually requires at least a few years in bottle. ~ 95 Vinous Media

Substitutions of featured wines may be made at BHW's discretion.