Pieve Santa Restituta Brunello di Montalcino 2018

Pieve Santa Restituta is the Montalcino estate of Gaja, the Piedmontese family that helped make Brunello one of Italy's best-known reds. Brunello di Montalcino is made solely from Sangiovese, here grown in southern Tuscany where warm, dry summers and free-draining galestro and clay soils bring the grape to full ripeness while the altitude keeps acidity in place. The 2018 spends time in oak, which softens the naturally firm Sangiovese tannins, adds fine spice and lets slow oxygen exchange build savoury depth and a leathery, tobacco-edged complexity. The colour is a deep garnet. The nose shows ripe cherry and plum, dried herbs, floral notes and a hint of leather and tobacco. The palate is bold and rich, with firm, fine-grained tannins, bright acidity and a long, savoury finish. At 15 per cent it carries real weight while staying structured. Serve at 17 to 18 degrees and decant one to two hours ahead. It is made for red meat, from bistecca to braised beef, and for aged cheese.