2020 Gaja Barbaresco

The historical showpiece and the most important wine of the family is the 'Barbaresco'! Like the Barolo, it is extracted from the Nebbiolo grape and was first freed from an excess of hard tannins at Gaja, which made the wine more accessible and gave it a multitude of finesses. The 'Koninginnewijn' has a beautiful scent of cassis and cherries, leather and earth, tobacco and licorice. With all the power and fullness that characterize wines from the Nebbiolo grape, it is known for its elegance and fine silky tannin. The Barbaresco is a fusion of brilliant delicacy and extreme concentration. Full of finesse and extremely aromatic.

Gaja Baresco is vinified 100% from Nebbiolo. The grapes were picked manually in October from wine strains from 14 different plots of the Gaja winery. After fermentation, the wine matured for 12 months in new barriques, then another 12 months in large wooden barrels, before the oenologist Guido Rivella released it. The wine has a storage potential of at least 10 – 20 years, with perfect storage conditions even longer.

The historical showpiece and the most important wine of the family is the 'Barbaresco'! Like the Barolo, it is extracted from the Nebbiolo grape and was first freed from an excess of hard tannins at Gaja, which made the wine more accessible and gave it a multitude of finesses. The 'Koninginnewijn' has a beautiful scent of cassis and cherries, leather and earth, tobacco and licorice. With all the power and fullness that characterize wines from the Nebbiolo grape, it is known for its elegance and fine silky tannin. The Barbaresco is a fusion of brilliant delicacy and extreme concentration. Full of finesse and extremely aromatic.

The history of wine house Gaja begins in 1859, the year in which Giovanni Gaja, a local grape grower in Barbaresco, Piemonte, founded a small wine company under his own name. A generation later, it is Angelo, grandfather of the current owner, who continues to make wine with the same determination as his father. He is supported in this by Clotilde Rey, whom he marries in 1905. They teach their scion Giovanni named after his grandfather that as a winemaker you should not make any concessions; nothing should be at the expense of the quality of the wine. In 1961, Giovanni's son Angelo joins the family business. After graduating as an economist from the University of Turin and graduating from the School of Viticulture & Oenology in Alba, young Angelo went abroad for an internship in wineries in Bordeaux, Burgundy, along the Rin and in California. Full of fresh ideas, he had now returned to his native Piedmont.

When Angelo Gaja takes over the company from his parents in 1970, he asks his old classmate and winemaker Guido Rivella to assist him. Together they implement a number of very revolutionary changes for the region. For example, they sometimes reduce the yields per hectare by up to half the number of liters allowed, they experiment with vinification methods, the planting of new grape varieties - both red and white - and pioneering ripening techniques. The results are amazing and Gaja is conquering the whole world with its beautiful Barbarescos - the company's flagship.

The nebbiolo grapes for the Barbaresco of Gaja traditionally came from different vineyards. That's how Angelo's father, grandfather and his father before that did it. Although the young Angelo would not end this tradition, he launched a new line of Barbarescos from a single vineyard. There was increasing interest in these experimental single vinyard wines.

As a proponent of a dynamic, purely quality-oriented viticultural culture, the brilliant winemaker decided from 1996 to break completely with what he considered too conservative and restrictive Italian system of designations of origin. Only his traditional Barbaresco is still on the market as a prestigious DOCG. He deliberately 'downgrades' all other red single vineyard wines to regional Langhe Nebbiolo DOC. They are the Sorì San Lorenzo, the Sorì Tildìn and the Costa Russi.

Gaja' Barolo Sperss also underwent the same name change. With the exception of Dagromis Barolo DOCG, Sito Moresco and Conteisa de Langhe DOC are also mentioned. Langhe DOC also appears on the label of his white toppers from Piemonte, the Rossj-Bass, Alteni di Brassica and Gaia & Rey. After all, for Gaja it is not the abbreviation that guarantees good quality of a wine, but the name of the producer.