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Viinin Kuvailu
The Story
Angelo Gaja forever changed the world's notion of Piedmont wines when he released this historic wine for the first time in 1985 (with the 1982 vintage), made from Cabernet Sauvignon grapes planted in the township of Barbaresco. According to the often told legend, Angelo Gaja's father exclaimed "darmagi!" upon learning that his son had planted Cabernet Sauvignon in vineyards previously devoted to Piedmont's traditional Nebbiolo grape. Akin to the French quel dommage, the Piedmontese expression darmagi meanswhat a pity! or what a shame!. With his characteristic respect for tradition and those who came before him, the younger Gaja decided to call this wine Darmagi, a homage to his family's legacy with an eye toward the future.
Today, fruit for this wine is sourced from 5 acres in Barbaresco, where growing conditions render structured expressions of Cabernet Sauvignon with impressive aging potential. This wine showed the international community that the terroir Piedmont could produce world-class wines using grapes other than those traditionally grown there. Today, this Cabernet Sauvignon is a favorite among the great collectors of the world.
Vuosikerta 1996
Italy Vintage Report by Tb: 1996 was an excellent continuation of the preceding year. Temperatures exceeding 30°C at the beginning of June accelerated and balanced the start of the blooming period. The summer growing season enjoyed ideal conditions, in which the grapes were allowed to ripen slowly and evenly. The autumn rains did not present any mould problems due to the cool temperatures. Nebbiolo grapes were thick-skinned, very concentrated and ripe. The 1996 Barolos and Barbarescos are abundantly fruity, supple and robust wines, whose quality is on a par with the 1990 vintage. In Tuscany Chianti and Montalcino enjoyed extraordinary success. Montepulciano did not do quite as well, but producers in Tuscany considered 1996 to be nearly every bit as good as it was in 1995. Starting with this vintage Angelo Gaja classified his legendary single-vineyard Barbarescos and Barolos as IGTs. Gaja said that the reason for doing this was his desire to differentiate his previous modern single-vintage wines from his family’s pride, the traditional Barbaresco, whose importance he wanted to emphasise as his only DOCG wine. The venerable Chianti producer, Castello di Ama decided that from 1996 on it would focus on the production of Chianti Classico, placing less emphasis on its single-vineyard wines, the Bellavista and La Casuccia.
The wines are still maturing very nicely, even if the Chiantis should, in my opinion, be enjoyed soon due to their sheer deliciousness.