2016 Pieve Santa Restituta (Gaja), Brunello di Montalcino, Sugarille

Plenty of black cherries, cedar, dried flowers and red cherries on the nose, following through to the palate, which is dense and compressed with gorgeous, intense fruit and chewy yet integrated tannins. Very, very impressive red here. Try after 2024.

Sugarille is a single vineyard site at 340 meters elevation, with galestro and limestone soils and the oldest vines of the property. The 2016 Sugarille Brunello di Montalcino has resinous aromatics of pine, menthol, cedar, and ripe black plum. The palate is full bodied, ripe with dried black cherry and sassafras, with an amplified and velvety structure, mouthwatering acidity, and a saline mineral finish. Offering depth without weight, this is a wonderfully complex wine for those who edge toward a slightly more modern style. Allow 3-5 years in the cellar and enjoy 2025-2036. Audrey Frick

The 2016 Brunello di Montalcino Sugarille is a sleeping giant. Cool-toned, poised yet wonderfully elegant, it lifts from the glass with a gorgeous display of lavender and purple-tinged florals before giving way to crushed stone, blackberries and a hint of sour citrus. It’s silky and soft with a dense core of primary fruits, which creates a monolithic feel today yet tempts the imagination with what’s to come. Brisk acids, salty minerals and fine-grained tannins combine, adding clenching grip yet also further depths, tapering off to hints of tobacco and spiced orange. Its scale is large, yet so is its potential, as this well-muscled Brunello is geared for the cellar and sure to make a lot of people happy over the next ten to twenty years. Eric Guido

From a single, southwest-facing vineyard on clay and limestone soil rich in Galestro, the 2016 Sugarille is large-framed but poised. With a brooding character, it is shaded by tobacco, smoky incense and grilled sage. The palate contributes mineral graphite notes and dense black plum, while muscley tannins keep everything resolutely in check. In recent years the estate has moved from barriques to ageing in larger tonneaux of 500 and 700L, in combination with big casks of 40hL. Drinking Window 2025 - 2040
Tasted by Michaela Morris (at Vancouver, 22 Mar 2021)
Part of Brunello di Montalcino 2016: vintage report and top wines

The Pieve Santa Restituta 2016 Brunello di Montalcino Sugarille opens to the dark, fruity intensity that defines this five-hectare site with schistous clay galestro-rich soils. Sugarille always shows more heft and density, and this impression is amplified in a balanced vintage such as 2016. But with the memory of the 2015 vintage fresh in my mind, I feel that this edition is slightly lither and more streamlined in terms of mouthfeel. The tannins are direct and linear, but the fruit padding is lessened compared to the slightly warm 2015 vintage. In most cases, I prefer 2016 to 2015, but in the case of Sugarille (a 10,000-bottle release), I give a tiny upper hand to the older vintage thanks to its increased complexity and richer textural fiber. ML

Notable for its ripe black cherry, blackberry, earth, spice and iron flavors, this red also possesses a formidable structure. Bracing acidity and monolithic tannins both exert their influence, yet this comes together nicely on the lingering finish. Needs time. Best from 2025 through 2048. 150 cases imported. — BS