2019 Pieve Santa Restituta Brunello di Montalcino

95 pts
A finely tuned, early-drinking Brunello that blends historic vineyard material with the precision and restraint of the Gaja family’s signature style.

Price:
Sale price$225.00
Stock:
In stock, ready to ship, only 1 unit left
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Description

"Angelo Gaja is, without question, the most famous wine producer in Italy. Possibly one of the most famous in the world. He is credited with developing techniques that revolutionised winemaking in Italy.
- International Wine Challenge

This is the more approachable expression from Gaja’s Montalcino estate, but don’t mistake that for simple. The 2019 is sourced primarily from the Deserti vineyard with a touch of Rennina and Sugarille - Gaja’s two prized single-site parcels. It’s made to show the elegance of Brunello early, while still holding the structure and pedigree you’d expect from this historic house.

Winemaking is gentle and precise: whole berries, some whole bunches, and a cool ferment to capture lift. Only the free-run juice is kept - none of the pressed wine makes the cut. Elevage is split between older tonneaux for six months, then traditional large botti for the balance of its required two years, finishing in concrete before bottling. No new oak, no fluff - just purity of fruit, softness of tannin, and a clear sense of place.

This is Gaja’s invitation into Brunello - a wine that captures the soul of Montalcino without needing decades in the cellar.

94 points - "Medium ruby red hue. Black cherry, red earth and dried sage aromatics. Deep dark cherry fruit at its core, wrapped with dusty tannins and dried herbal savouries. As it flows, we see a cured pork undertone build that adds to its sense of complexity. Great length, tannins lift and drive right to the finish. Very approachable even at this age." - Stuart Knox (The Real Review)

Importer's Notes:

This wine was first produced in 2005 and is a blend of all the vineyards, currently utilising the 9ha of Deserti and a small amount of Rennina and Sugarille. They use cool, chilled ferments utilising whole berries and some whole-bunch. Stem usage is carefully managed as to avoid any green flavours in the wine. The key advantage to stem usage is they can reduce final alcohol by volume in a wine by up to 1%.

They only keep the ‘flower’ of the ferment for their wines, just the juice that is drained off. The last 10 to 20% of the volume making up the pressed wine are not used at all for the wines of Pieve Santa Restituta.

The elevage however for this wine is a little different to the other two single site wines. After primary ferment is completed the wine spends the first six months of its life in 2yr or older French oak Tonneau, no new oak is used for any of the wines. After this period the wine is moved to large format oak Botti for the remainder of the two years required by the DOCG rules.

Then the wine is moved to concrete for 6-12 months before it is bottled. This wine is the introduction to their Brunello’s, a little fleshier in fruit and softer in tannin and designed to be an earlier drinking style and approachable on release.

Price Bracket $101 and Above
Type Red
Body Full Bodied
Variety Sangiovese
Country Italy
Region Tuscany
Reviewed By The Real Review
Critic Score 95
Size 750ml
Vintage 2019
Closure Cork

Gaja

The Gaja family has been producing wine in the hills of Barbaresco, Piedmont since 1859. But it was under the leadership of Angelo Gaja from the 1960s that the estate rose to global prominence, redefining what Italian fine wine could be. Today, his children - Gaia, Rossana, and Giovanni - are guiding the next chapter of the family legacy.

Gaja’s wines are a benchmark of modern Italian winemaking - bold, polished, and built for the long haul. Single-vineyard bottlings like Sorì Tildìn and Costa Russi broke new ground for Barbaresco, while plantings of Cabernet and Chardonnay challenged tradition and put Langhe on the world stage.

Beyond Barbaresco, the family now crafts celebrated wines from Bolgheri and Montalcino, and most recently, from the volcanic slopes of Etna under the IDDA label - a joint project with Alberto Graci that’s turning heads for its purity and poise. Wherever they go, Gaja remains a symbol of innovation, ambition, and Italian excellence.

The Gaja family Gaja

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