GAJA Brunello di Montalcino Pieve Santa Restituta 2020 Bottle
Red Still Wine | Italy | Umbria | 75cl
£74.95
/
£449.70
£427.22 case
ABV: 14.5%
Size: 75cl
Closure Type: Cork
Country: Italy
Region: Umbria
Wine Style: Full Bodied
Grape: Sangiovese
Description
The 2020 Gaja Brunello di Montalcino Pieve Santa Restituta flourished despite a challenging vintage, reflecting the family's commitment to sustainable practices. While the year wasn't uniformly exceptional due to heat, COVID restrictions allowed producers to focus on their vineyards, enhancing wine quality. This vintage showcases the Gaja’s innovative approaches to combatting climate change, such as incorporating organic matter to improve soil water retention. Rated 95 points by James Suckling and 93 points by both The Wine Advocate and Vinous, the wine is a masterpiece of structure and concentration. Aromas of cherry and berries mingle with hints of rose and cedar, while the palate delivers a powerful, fresh experience with smooth tannins. With a drinking window from 2027 to 2035, it exemplifies elegance and aging potential, making it a must-have for collectors.
*****
It is true to say that 2020 was not a uniformly or classically great vintage; hot, but not as dry as 2019 or 2021. However, this was the vintage of COVID restrictions which gave vignerons the time they needed to tend all their vineyards without the workloads of ‘usual’ life. This essentially created the conditions for 2020 to be a vintage where the producer made the biggest difference in the resultant quality of the wines. Not every producer could turn their focus to climate change and heat resistance in a single vintage, and while 2020 may be the turning point that Brunello needed to get away from brittle tannin and imbalanced alcohol in hot vintages, this is where the Gaja family really come into their own.
The Gaja’s have always been incredibly focussed on spending time in their vineyards and understanding the whole ecosystem that their vines thrive in - projects targeted at combatting climate change effects and the increasing number of ‘hot’ vintages have been their focus for many years, like the sensitive addition of organic matter (that has been carefully cultivated by the family) to the soils to give them the ability to retain more water and support the vines in the heat. 2020 is a vintage where the Gaja family were able to reap what they had sown.
This is a vintage where customers should be selective, but by no means should anyone miss out on the spectacular wines that can be found. Eric Guido has stated in his Brunello 2020 article on Vinous that “This is not a vintage to skip, nor is it just a “restaurant vintage.” The successful wines of 2020 are absolutely gorgeous. Readers just need to be selective”.
2020 shares similarities with 2015 and 2016, being generally warm but without extreme temperatures. The production yield is 15% lower than usual. The wines have a notable structure and concentration, with elegant, sweet tannins. They display abundant fruit, balanced acidity, and intense ruby-red hues.
On the nose, fresh fruit aromas prevail, with notes of cherry and small berries, followed by elegant hints of rose, geranium, and subtle cedar. On the palate, the wine is powerful, dense, and fresh, with generous, smooth tannins that provide a soft, sweet mouthfeel. It evolves with flavors of dried fruit and finishes with a savory, medium-long persistence.
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GIOVANNI GAJA
"The last months of 2019 were very rainy in Montalcino, November in particular, with 250 mm of rainfall approximately. 2020 winter until late March was dry with temperatures above the seasonal average. In the second half of March, exactly at the end of pruning, the temperatures dropped drastically for a month, reaching -5°C and causing some problems with frost. The following months were hot, but not excessively, and were characterized by significant temperature variations at night. Tramontana winds – cold air coming in from the norther Apennine Mountains – in conjunction with heat peaks that reached 31°C on September 12th, accompanied the Sangiovese until its full ripeness. The harvest began on September 15th at Pieve Santa Restituta. The grape clusters were sparse and small, the berries well ripened, rich in sugars and in polyphenolic compounds.
In the 2020 vintage I remember a peculiarity, the fact that the rains did not fall in winter but in the summer months, so there was a mild and dry winter and also a hot summer but the summer rains avoided stress on the vines."