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Gaja bought this Bolgheri land in 1996, after talks so long the estate is named after them. Promis is the easy one: Merlot, Syrah and Sangiovese, a year in oak, soft dark fruit with black pepper and coffee. Vivino drinkers rate it 4.1.
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Built from Ca' Marcanda's own note for the 2023 and from 6,860 Vivino reviews. The estate writes of black pepper, cloves and roasted coffee. Drinkers most often mention oak, black fruit and a leathery, smoky edge.
Ca' Marcanda's note for the 2023 opens on black pepper and cloves, with red cherry and a sharp rhubarb edge behind them. Roasted coffee sits under all of it and gives the glass its weight. Vivino drinkers reach for the same words, plus oak and vanilla, in 1,910 mentions.
Coffee
Smoky
Black cherry
Plum
Leather
Oak
Black pepperThe estate calls the 2023 austere, with a less concentrated grip. The grip is lighter here than in Ca' Marcanda's bigger Bolgheri reds, and that is what makes it easy. The tannins are broad and soft rather than firm. Black plum and cherry carry the middle, and the pepper from the nose comes straight through.
A year in oak, done to each grape on its own before blending, leaves a light smoky trail rather than a woody one. It fades slowly and stays dry.
This is the gentle end of a famous name, and drinkers agree: 4.1 out of 5 on Vivino across 57,865 ratings, and 4.2 for the 2023. Made on lime and clay soils that hold water and slow ripening, it keeps freshness at 14% alcohol.
Seven shops list Promis here, across the 2022, 2023 and 2024. The 2023 is the one most of them carry, and it is the year James Suckling scored 94 points.
Merlot leads and the tannins are soft, which makes this one of the gentler ways into a famous Italian name. Price is the catch. At over 40 pounds a bottle it is a weekend wine, not a Tuesday one.
Merlot-led with soft tannin and real freshness, so it works across grilled beef, lamb, roast pork and baked pasta without fighting any of them.
Nothing here is hard work: familiar grapes, dark fruit, soft tannin and a sweet oak edge. Only the price stops it being an obvious first bottle.
A Gaja label carries weight at a table, and this is the affordable way to put one there. It is the entry wine of the estate, so it lacks the drama of the Bolgheri DOC bottles.
Prices here run from the low forties to the high fifties, and James Suckling gave the 2023 94 points. Part of what you pay is the Gaja name, so it is fair rather than a bargain.
One year in oak and a few months in bottle, then out. It keeps about nine to ten years from the vintage, but the best of it comes early. This is not a bottle built to reward a long wait.
It drinks easily enough for a weeknight, but at over 40 pounds a bottle almost nobody will open it on one.
Scoring is rule-based and deterministic. The model and weightings are documented in our Wine Fit Score methodology.
A compact view of what the Toscana denomination actually requires, and how this bottle sits inside it. Pulled from the official Italian disciplinare.
Ca' Marcanda publishes a season report for every year. 2022 was a drought year rescued by August rain. 2023 brought a week at 42C in mid-August, then cool September nights. 2024 was wet and late, with the red harvest running into October.
A warm, wet year that kept the estate busy against mildew from April to July. Dry weather in July and August pulled the vines back into line, but ripening still ran about ten days late. The red harvest went from 3 September to 8 October, broken up by rain.
A cold wet start, then a mid-August week at 42C, then 90mm of rain that saved it. September stayed warm by day and dropped to 13C at night, which kept the acidity bright. The estate picked from 20 August to 10 October, and James Suckling scored this one 94 points.
A drought ran from late winter through a torrid July, then August and September rain let the vines finish. Ca' Marcanda measured 600mm of rain across the year and called the quality very good, with the wines surprisingly fresh. The ripest of the three years here at 14.5% alcohol.
A warm, wet year that kept the estate busy against mildew from April to July. Dry weather in July and August pulled the vines back into line, but ripening still ran about ten days late. The red harvest went from 3 September to 8 October, broken up by rain.
Drink-now / hold guidance reflects general style cues for this wine, not a forecast for a specific bottle. Where vintage-level editorial notes exist, they appear above.
The grapes grow in Bolgheri and Bibbona, but the label says Toscana IGT. The estate keeps the Bolgheri DOC name for Magari and Camarcanda. Toscana IGT covers the whole region, so the rules leave the ageing to Gaja.
Italian wine law sorts bottles into a pyramid. DOCG sits at the top: tightly drawn boundaries, prescribed grapes, mandatory ageing, government tasting before release. DOC is the same idea with looser thresholds. IGT (Indicazione Geografica Tipica) is broader still, requiring only that 85% of the grapes come from the named territory.
Toscana is in the IGT tier. That is not a quality verdict, it is a description of how much freedom the producer has at vinification and ageing.
Toscana falls within Tuscany, covering Arezzo · Firenze · Grosseto · Livorno · Lucca · Massa Carrara · Pisa · Pistoia · Prato · Siena.
Winery
Castagneto Carducci
Wine area
Made at Ca Marcanda, Castagneto Carducci. Directions
The Gaja family has made wine at Barbaresco since 1859, and that reputation is priced in. Promis is the entry red of their Bolgheri estate, so you pay a slice of the family premium without paying Barbaresco money.
Each of the three grapes spends 12 months in oak on its own, then they are blended and rest a few more months in bottle. About a year and a half of stock sitting in a cellar has to be paid for somewhere.
Angelo Gaja spent months negotiating for this land at Castagneto Carducci, about 140 football pitches of it, and that is how the estate got its name. Coastal Bolgheri is some of the dearest vineyard land in Tuscany.
At 14% alcohol, UK duty is about 3.20 pounds a bottle on the February 2026 table, and VAT adds a fifth on top. On a 45 pound bottle that is close to 11 pounds before the shop or the estate sees anything.
Magari and Camarcanda come from the same cellar and carry the Bolgheri DOC name. One German merchant lists Camarcanda at four times the price of Promis. The plainer Toscana IGT label is part of why this bottle stays reachable.
Dishes that go with this wine
Ca' Marcanda calls the 2023 austere, with a less concentrated grip. That grip is lighter than in the estate's bigger Bolgheri reds. Soft tannin like that points at roast and grilled meat rather than anything delicate. Vivino's own food suggestions lead with beef, lamb and veal.
Fat from a rare steak coats your tongue, and the tannin in Promis strips it away so the next bite tastes as good as the first. The grip here is broad and soft, so it never dries the meat out. This is Tuscany's own habit: a big grilled steak with a medium-bodied red.
Try with: Fiorentina steak · Ribeye steak · Sunday Roast Beef · Sirloin steak
A long-cooked ragu is sweet and heavy, and it flattens a light wine. Promis has the weight to sit level with it without burying the meat, because Merlot leads and the alcohol sits at 14%. Sangiovese in the blend adds the sour-cherry lift that a tomato sauce wants.
Try with: Ragu alla bolognese · Lasagna · Eggplant parmesan · Anelletti al forno · More pairings →
Rosemary, black pepper and roast lamb all pull in the same direction, and the wine meets them halfway. Ca' Marcanda's own note names black pepper and cloves, which is the Syrah in the blend talking. The herb on the meat and the spice in the glass end up as one flavour.
Try with: Rack of lamb · Lamb chops · Leg of lamb · Roast Lamb with Mint Sauce · More pairings →
Rich pork leaves a film of fat that dulls everything after it, and the wine's acidity cuts through and resets your mouth. Promis keeps that freshness because its vineyards sit on lime and clay soils that ripen the grapes slowly. Cured meat sits on Vivino's own list of foods for this wine.
Try with: Porchetta · Lucanica · Porceddu · Melton Mowbray Pork Pie · More pairings →
Game tastes of iron and earth, and it needs a wine with a savoury side or it reads as sweet. The leather and smoke behind 1,316 Vivino mentions do that job here. Italian merchants send Promis to wild boar stew for the same reason.
Try with: Venison Stew · Roast Pheasant · Roast Duck · Beef stew · More pairings →
Chilli burns hotter next to alcohol, and Promis carries 14%. The oak and the roasted coffee note turn bitter against it, so both the food and the wine come off worse. Save this bottle for meat that is seasoned rather than fired up.
Skip with: Pizza Diavola · Chicken madras · Szechuan beef · Tteokbokki · Pairing guide →
Promis is sold ready to drink, a year after the oak and a few months after bottling. Vivino rates the 2002 at 4.4 from 95 ratings, so the wine can age. The estate still builds this one for the fruit, not the wait.
Best in the years above; holds without falling over either side.
A short splash decant softens the first-pour edge and opens the aromatics.
One year in oak and a few months in bottle, then out. It keeps about nine to ten years from the vintage, but the best of it comes early. This is not a bottle built to reward a long wait.
£40.82 is the lowest tracked offer for the current vintage and we have no signal of further discounting.
Read directly from each retailer’s public product page once a day. Last refresh: 10 Sep 2026, 01:43 BST. We do not hold stock and we do not accept payment for placement.
Confidence · HighNotes published by the producer, quoted with attribution.
Confidence · HighFrom the official Italian disciplinare for this denomination, cross-checked against the Ministry of Agriculture register.
Confidence · HighOur reading of the price, drawn from the disciplinare, public UK duty rates, and typical landed-cost benchmarks. Not a quote from the producer or a retailer.
Confidence · MediumStyle guidance for this kind of wine at this price point. Treat it as advice, not a forecast for the bottle in your hand.
Confidence · MediumDark fruit first, then black pepper, roasted coffee and a light smoky edge. Ca' Marcanda's own note for the 2023 picks out red cherry, cloves and rhubarb. The tannins are soft, so it is easy to drink young.
Merlot leads, with Syrah and a smaller share of Sangiovese. The estate ferments the three apart for about 15 days, ages each one for a year in oak, then blends them. Italian merchants list the split as roughly 55% Merlot, 35% Syrah and 10% Sangiovese.
Promis grows in Bolgheri and next-door Bibbona, but it is sold under the wider Toscana IGT name. Two other reds from the same estate, Magari and Camarcanda, carry the Bolgheri DOC name instead. That plainer label is one reason Promis costs a quarter of what the estate's top red does.
Grilled and roast red meat, above all. A Fiorentina steak, a beef ragu, roast lamb or a slow game stew all work. Italian merchants point it at aged cheese and wild boar too.
About nine to ten years from the vintage, and the best of it comes in the first half. Ca' Marcanda releases it after a year in oak and a few months in bottle, so it is ready when you buy it. German merchants quote much longer, but the pleasure here is the fruit.
Promis is the entry red of the same Gaja estate and the cheapest of the three. It is led by Merlot, while Magari and Camarcanda lean on Cabernet and carry the Bolgheri DOC name. Promis is the one to open on a normal evening.
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