Gaja, Langhe, Darmagi 2016

You'll find more dark fruit and more freshness here than in many of the other offerings from Gaja, with a dark, deep inky appearance. The 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon Darmagi is a 100% expression of the grape, whereas past editions saw tiny parts of Merlot and Cabernet Franc. The fruit comes from a 2.5-hectare vineyard planted in 1978 directly under the town of Barbaresco, setting the stage for an elegant rendition of Cabernet Sauvignon with a fresh and contained style. The wine shows a nice balance between the extraction you get from the grape skins and the rich succulence you get from the pulp inside the berries. In the 2017, you taste more of the skins, and in the 2018, Gaia Gaja comments, you taste more of the pulp. The 2016 offers both, countering each other with precision. Whole grapes are pressed very gently, and the wine is aged in oak for 18 months, with less emphasis on new oak now. In fact, only 30% of the total sees new oak, and a greater percentage of the wine goes into large oak casks instead.

The 2016 Darmagi (Cabernet Sauvignon) is classy and polished, with good varietal character and impeccable balance. Crème de cassis, menthol, licorice and lavender all develop in the glass in this unctuous yet mid-weight, wonderfully expressive, Cabernet Sauvignon. Darmagi will never be a truly great Cabernet Sauvignon, but it is a very fine Gaja wine that reaches this level because of Angelo Gaja's iron-clad will and determination to make it so.