Month: May 2014

Brunello di Montalcino DOCG

Grape: 100% Sangiovese Grosso.

Vineyards: With the 2005 vintage, for the first time in its history, the Gaja family decided to produce a classic Brunello di Montalcino without single-vineyard designation, blended from the estate’s top growing sites in Sugarille, Santo Pietro, Castagno, and Pian dei Cerri.

Fermentation: Four weeks in stainless-steel vats.

Aging: Twelve months in barrique (first-, second-, and third-passage casks), 12 months in botti (large thirty-year-old casks).

Vineyard notes: The 2005 Brunello di Montalcino marked the first release of this label. The growing sites in the southwestern subzone of the appellation impart structure and polished tannin to this wine.

Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Sugarille

Grape: 100% Sangiovese Grosso.

Vineyard: Sugarille.

Fermentation: Four weeks in stainless-steel vats.

Aging: Twelve months in barrique (first-, second-, and third-passage casks), 12 months in botti (large thirty-year-old casks).

Vineyard notes: According to archives found at Pieve Santa Restituta, the Sugarille growing site was already devoted to the cultivation of grapes for wine by the mid-16th century (1541). The name Sugarille (SOO-gah-REEL-leh) is derived from the Latin suber (sughero in Italian), meaning cork oak, possibly because cork trees were found there. Here, in the estate’s top growing site, white rocky soils (poor in nutrients and rich in calcareous clay), excellent drainage, south-western exposure and ventilation arriving from the Tyrrhenian sea to the west create the ideal conditions for a long-lived, structured expression of Sangiovese Grosso.

Brunello di Montalcino DOCG

Grape: 100% Sangiovese Grosso.

Vineyards: Santo Pietro, Castagno, Pian dei Cerri.

Fermentation: 4 weeks in stainless-steel vats.

Aging: Twelve months in barrique (first-, second-, and third-passage casks), 12 months in botti (large thirty-year-old casks).

Vineyard notes: The designation Rennina (rehn-NEE-nah) first appears in the High Middle Ages and is derived from the late-Roman name of the estate, Fundus Rescianum, denoting a state-owned farm. Since the Gaja family’s acquisition of the historic estate in 1994, three growing sites have been devoted to the cultivation of Sangiovese Grosso grapes for the production of Brunello di Montalcino: Santo Pietro (St. Peter), Castagno (Chestnut Tree), and Pian dei Cerri (Turkish Oak Flats). Here, lime-rich subsoils, southwest exposure and ventilation arriving from the Tyrrhenian sea to the west deliver a well-balanced Brunello di Montalcino, defined by its characteristic red fruit notes, minerality and polished tannin.