Dear Wine Lover,

we were recently blown away from a bottle of Darmagi 2001, a great ready to drink wine from Angelo Gaja. As the truffle season is starting this is a perfect match! Many times wines from Piedmont need quite a long time, 20-30 years, to reach their peak, but this wine has reached its drinkability and will be at is best from now for another 10 years.

Darmagi is not the usual wine from Piedmont made with Nebbiolo, it is a Cabernet Sauvignon and needs to be tried to believe. The story behind the birth of Darmagi is quite interesting as well. Darmagi is made of Cabernet Sauvignon with some Merlot & Cabernet Franc in the blend, so an original Bordeaux blend which is not very common in the Piedmont area. In fact the Cabernet Sauvignon vines were planted secretly by Angelo Gaja during a holiday of his father, who didn’t at all agree with the plans of his son of making wines with grapes not of the area. Angelo chose a prime Nebbiolo site and planted it with Cabernet Sauvignon and that’s how it all started. His father wasn’t at all happy at the beginning and when he saw the Nebbiolo site planted with Cabernet he felt very sorry and just kept on saying “Darmagi, darmagi…”, which in Piedmont dialect means “what a pity. Not really if we consider the results and quality achieved so far…

75.0 cl Darmagi Cabernet Sauvignon - Gaja 2001 CHF 175.00 (CHF 189.00 Vat included)

For 36 bottles and more CHF 160.00 (CHF 172.80 Vat included)

Robert Parker 94: The 2001 Darmagi is impressive. Darmagi is Gaja’s most vintage sensitive red, but the 2001 is truly superb. Dark cherries, plums, bell peppers, sweet herbs and licorice are nicely layered in this vibrant, powerful Cabernet Sauvignon. The 2001 Darmagi brings together the characteristics of cool-climate Cabernet and an extroverted personality that are very nicely balanced. The 2001 is still very much on the young side, although it can be enjoyed today. I am amazed at how well the 2001 has developed over the years. Anticipated maturity: 2012-2021.