Pieve Santa Restituta, Brunello di Montalcino, Gaja 2018

Pieve Santa Restituta has long been under the ownership of the renowned Piedmontese producer Gaja. From this Tuscan estate they produce this supremely elegant wine. It's full of gorgeous scents of sweet red cherries, exotic dried spices and wild herbs with smooth, dark fruit flavours and succulent, velvety tannins. The vibrant palate has intense bright cherry flavours balanced by seamless tannins and mineral freshness.

Complex and delicious whilst just starting to come into its own it'll age well and will be superb until at least 2030.

Angelo Gaja, the renowned wine personality made an impact on Italy’s wine industry that can hardly be overestimated when he took the reins of his family's estate back in 1970. On taking control he replanted many of the vineyards and controversially introduced varieties such as Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay on to land previously the domain of Nebbiolo and other indigenous varieties. His heresy, however, paid off handsomely to the point where he became virtual royalty of the Italian wine industry. In the 1990s they expanded out of their Piedmontese base with the purchase of the Pieve di Santa Restitua estate in Montalcino where their first Brunello di Montalcino was made in 1993. And then in 1996, the Ca' Marcanda estate also in Tuscany has been added to the fold.