Winemaker Notes
The nose is remarkably intense, immediately presenting saline notes, flower bulbs, fresh wood logs, oregano and other aromatic herbs. The floral aspect dominates over the fruit, with a mature, almost wilted flower character. The wine is dense, exhibiting substance and juiciness. In the aftertaste, the fruit melds with sweet notes of chocolate. The wine boasts a very good structure, rich and slightly above average for the Bolgheri region, with prominent notes of rose and violet. A distinctive salty marine note adds complexity.
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
Also tasted as part of a short vertical, the 2023 Magari is a bright magenta/ruby color. It’s fresh, spicy, and floral on the nose, with balanced pure cherry fruit, spicy cedar, toasted incense, and fresh rosemary. It displays a medium-framed profile, but it doesn’t lack focus in its silky texture, fine tannins, and refreshing though seamless acidity. This vintage offers a lot of freshness and elegance. It’s lovely out of the gate but should have an even and long window for drinking over the coming 15 or so years.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The Ca’ Marcanda 2023 Bolgheri Rosso Magari, a blend of Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon and Petit Verdot, shows appealing richness and a soft, generous side with plump berry fruit, baked blackberry pie and sweet spice. A creamy texture and ripe phenolics give the wine an immediately pleasurable palate impact, while a touch of subtle sweetness carries through on the finish.
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James Suckling
This fruity, spicy wine shows plums, bell peppers, eucalyptus leaves and cherries. The crunchy palate has crisp acidity, medium body, light extraction and a grainy finish.
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Decanter
Magari is Gaja's Cabernet Franc-dominant expression of Bolgheri. Deep and plummy, it has a chocolatey nose with balsamic herb notes. The broad palate shows plummy black and red fruits, lifted and with floral top notes. Poised and very fresh, that balsamic and menthol character runs through the core with a streak of chocolate. Balanced structure.
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Wine Spectator
Black currant, blackberry, bell pepper, iron and tobacco flavors gather in this sleek red. Tightens up on the finish, where the fruit and savory elements echo. Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon and Petit Verdot. Drink now through 2032.
Perched atop a steep hill in the Langhe sits the small village of Barbaresco, home of the GAJA winery. The story of the GAJA Winery can be traced to a singular, founding purpose: to produce original wines with a sense of place which reflect the tradition and culture of those who made it. This philosophy has inspired five generations of impeccable winemaking. It started over 150 years ago when Giovanni Gaja opened a small restaurant in Barbaresco, making wine to complement the food he served. In 1859, he founded the Gaja Winery, producing some of the first wine from Piedmont to be bottled and sold outside the region. Since that time, the winery has been shaped by each generation’s hand, notably that of Clotilde Rey, Angelo Gaja’s grandmother. Her passion for uncompromising quality influenced and informed Angelo Gaja. Through Angelo, these values have become the cornerstone of the GAJA philosophy and are engrained in every aspect of wine production
In 1961, Angelo Gaja began his mission of bringing this great winery to an even higher level. He was the first to use barriques, 225-liter French oak barrels. Under his direction, GAJA pioneered the production of single-vineyard designated wines and was the first to plant Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc varietals in Piedmont. He was also instrumental in elevating the native Nebbiolo grape to world-class esteem.
Angelo Gaja is joined by the fifth generation of the GAJA family – his daughters Gaia and Rossana and his son Giovanni. Together they continue to advance the winery’s legacy. To fully realize their vision, all GAJA wines are produced exclusively from grapes grown in estate-owned vineyards, including 250 acres in Piedmont’s Barbaresco and Barolo districts as well as estates in Pieve Santa Restituta (Montalcino) and Ca’Marcanda (Bolgheri). It is from these storied vineyards, and their terroir – the combination of soil, weather and vines that grow upon them, that GAJA wines reveal their true heart and soul.
One of the world’s most classic and popular styles of red wine, Bordeaux-inspired blends have spread from their homeland in France to nearly every corner of the New World. Typically based on either Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot and supported by Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petit Verdot, the best of these are densely hued, fragrant, full of fruit and boast a structure that begs for cellar time. Somm Secret—Blends from Bordeaux are generally earthier compared to those from the New World, which tend to be fruit-dominant.
An outstanding wine region made famous by Marchese Mario Incisa della Rocchetta, who planted Cabernet Sauvignon vines for his own consumption in 1940s on his San Guido estate, and called the resulting wine, Sassicaia. Today the region’s Tuscan reds are based on Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, which can be made as single varietal wines or blends. The local Sangiovese can make up no more than 50% of the blends. Today Sassicaia has its own DOC designation within the Bogheri DOC appellation.