2016 Gaja Pieve Santa Restituta Brunello di Montalcino

2016 Gaja Pieve Santa Restituta Brunello di Montalcino

2016 Gaja Pieve Santa Restituta Brunello di Montalcino, Sangiovese from,Tuscany, Italy

Deep garnet color. Charming notes of juniper berries, licorice and sweet wood greet your nose. The 2016 Brunello has a very clear expression of sweet and ripe fruit, opening on the palate, with notes of spice and earthy aromatic herbs. This wine has remarkable texture, mouth-filling fruit and a very good length. Winemaker Notes

Among Italy’s elite red grape varieties, Sangiovese has the perfect intersection of bright red fruit and savory earthiness and is responsible for the best red wines of Tuscany. While it is best known as the chief component of Chianti, it is also the main grape in Vino Nobile di Montepulciano and reaches the height of its power and intensity in the complex, long-lived Brunello di Montalcino. Somm Secret—Sangiovese doubles under the alias, Nielluccio, on the French island of Corsica where it produces distinctly floral and refreshing reds and rosés

Famous for its bold, layered and long-lived red, Brunello di Montalcino, the town of Montalcino is about 70 miles south of Florence, and has a warmer and drier climate than that of its neighbor, Chianti. The Sangiovese grape is king here, as it is in Chianti, but Montalcino has its own clone called Brunello.

Perched atop a steep hill in the Langhe sits the small village of Barbaresco, home of the GAJA winery. The story of the GAJA Winery can be traced to a singular, founding purpose: to produce original wines with a sense of place which reflect the tradition and culture of those who made it. This philosophy has inspired five generations of impeccable winemaking. It started over 150 years ago when Giovanni Gaja opened a small restaurant in Barbaresco, making wine to complement the food he served. In 1859, he founded the Gaja Winery, producing some of the first wine from Piedmont to be bottled and sold outside the region.