Ca' Marcanda Toscana Magari (Gaja) 2022
Ca' Marcanda Toscana Magari (Gaja) 2022
96 pts Wine Advocate
The Ca' Marcanda 2021 Bolgheri Rosso Magari is a blend of Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon and Petit Verdot. It brings forth a floral bouquet, showing subtle elegance at the start. Give it a few moments and the wine hits on all cylinders with integrated oak, bright fruit, black cherry, pomegranate seed, iris root and dustings of oak spice that never overshadow the fruit. The wine is refreshingly uncomplicated but shows refined nuance instead. This is the proverbial understated elegance that Gaja achieves so beautifully. It closes with lovely acidity and dusty tannins. (ML)
95 pts Jeb Dunnuck
Pouring a nearly opaque red hue, the medium to full-bodied 2022 Magari offers beautiful aromas of red apple, dark chocolate, and crushed flowers. Plush and refined on the palate, with a velvety texture and nuanced mineral underpinnings, it’s going to be a very graceful wine from this vintage. It won't be the most powerful red, but it offers a lot of finesse.
Magari is an Italian expression having different meanings “If only it was true…!”, “Maybe…”. It carries a sort of irony which leads people to smile, without showing off the great commitment and determination associated to the Ca’ Marcanda project.
Vinification: The three varieties ferment and macerate separately for around 15 days. After 12 months of aging in oak, they are blended and then aged for several months in the bottle before release.
Aging: After 12 months of aging in oak, they are blended and then aged for several months in the bottle before release.
Varietal Composition: Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Petit Verdot
Alcohol: 14.5%
Tasting 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.
Vintage Report
2022 was a year marked by a particular drought that began at the end of winter and lasted for a good part of the summer. May registered higher than usual temperatures: this heat continued during June and the weather conditions became torrid and very dry during July. In the final phase of the season, a rainy August and September allowed the vines to get some relief and the grapes to reach full ripeness and balance, while still maintaining excellent acidity. The vines have shown that they were able to react in a very positive way, resisting the initial lack of water and metabolizing the rain as best and as quickly as possible. In total we had 600 mm of water throughout the year but the distribution was very uneven and was concentrated at the beginning (October and December 2021) and the end of the season (August and September). Harvest started in mid-August for the whites and finished on October 3rd with the last Cabernet Sauvignon. The quality of the vintage is very good and the wines are surprisingly fresh: as a consequence of drought and heat, the vines slowed down the vegetative cycle and managed to retain high levels of acidity in the grapes.