Gaja Brunello di Montalcino Pieve Santa restituta 2013

Savory herbs, forest floor, peppery spices, and licorice frame the sweet, brambly red and blue fruits in the 2013 bottling of Gaja’s entry-level Brunello. Sappy yet energetic, this wine embraces its tensions, and sweet fruits find their complements in savory herbs, bright acidity its match in silky tannins, and a floral inner perfume is complemented by a sturdy mineral core. This wine packs a punch for its price point! Originally, Gaja’s Pieve Santa Restituta, part of which abuts the historic vineyards of Gianfranco Soldera, had two major holdings, Rennina’s grouping of vineyards and Sugarille, but the estate added 25 very breezy acres in Brunello’s northeast subzone in 2005. Deriving from sites in Sugarille, Santo Pietro, Castagno, and Pian dei Cerri, the grapes for this wine ferment for a month in temperature-controlled stainless steel, and the wine ages for a year each in barriques and in bottle.