La Gerla’s Brunello di Montalcino “La Pieve” 2021 is a single-vineyard Brunello from Castelnuovo dell’Abate in southern Montalcino, made from 100% Sangiovese Grosso. The estate, founded in 1976 by Sergio Rossi after purchasing property once tied to the Biondi-Santi family, works exclusively with Sangiovese Grosso and farms organically without certification. For La Pieve, fruit comes from a rented vineyard that La Gerla fully farms, and the wine is made in a traditional register, including aging in large Slavonian oak (reported as 50–100 hl barrels/casks, and also as about 36 months in large Slavonian oak).

This bottling has landed among the most decorated wines of the vintage. The headline is Kerin O’Keefe’s 100-point score and her designation of La Pieve 2021 as the “#1 Wine of 2025”—an exceptional accolade for any Brunello, let alone a single-vineyard selection. Additional top-end reviews reinforce that standing: James Suckling rated it 98 points (published December 13, 2025), and Luca Gardini also awarded 98 points. International Wine Report likewise went to 98, underlining broad critical agreement that this is a high-performing 2021.

Style-wise, the broader 2021 Brunello narrative helps frame the wine: the Consorzio described the vintage in three words—“fragrant,” “defined,” and “vertical”—after a season shaped by an early-April frost and a warm, relatively dry growing cycle, with late-summer cooling that helped retain freshness. In that context, La Pieve is presented as the estate’s more structured and concentrated expression versus the village Brunello, with commentary pointing to darker-toned fruit (blue/purple), firmer spice, and notes of toast.

Not every critic reached the same peak; scores also include 95 from Wine Spectator and 94s from Monica Larner (Wine Advocate) and Eric Guido (Vinous). Even so, the overall picture is of a traditionally raised, cellar-worthy Brunello that achieved rare top-of-market recognition in 2021.