Barbaresco 1998, Gaja

Gaja Piedmont

The wine world has many venerable winemaking family dynasties, steeped in tradition with a passion for making the very best wines from superlative terroirs. When this tradition meets a whirlwind prepared to challenge rules and the norms of history, the results can be very exciting indeed. So it is with Gaja. To view the iconic position in which Gaja wines are seen today separately from the current head of the family, Angelo Gaja, or those who have gone before him, is like trying to picture The Who without drummer Keith Moon or Paris without the Eiffel Tower. Building on the foundations laid in 1859 when Giovanni Gaja first settled in Piedmont in northwest Italy, successive generations of the Gaja family have sought nothing but perfection, stepping beyond the boundaries of local wine making tradition where necessary. It is fortunate indeed for wine lovers that they are Italian, for it is in Italy where breaking the rules is possible, indeed there is a structure specifically to allow it. Today there are three Gaja family estates: in Piedmont, where it all began, the Gajas create breathtaking Barbaresco and Barolo wines from the Nebbiolo grape, and remarkable white wines; from Pieve Santa Restituta in Montalcino comes Gaja Brunello; and from near the town of Bolgheri, close to Sassicaia and Ornellaia, is the newest example of Gaja creativity and vision ? Ca?Marcanda ? making Bordeaux style wine with Italian flair predominantly from Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. All exhibit the characteristic hallmark of power with sophisticated elegance that marks Gaja apart. Gaja, Piedmont Four generations of Gajas have presided over winemaking in Piedmont after Giovanni Gaja founded a tavern in Barbaresco in 1856. Today it is Angelo Gaja, an almost overwhelmingly energetic and brilliant man who drives the business forward after joining it in 1961. The changes he has made since then have been fundamental: stopping buying in grapes to focus exclusively on estate fruit; reducing yields; identifying his best Barbaresco vineyards to vinify and bottle separately to create the single vineyard wines Sorì San Lorenzo in 1967, Sorì Tildìn in 1970 and Costa Russi in 1978; introducing small oak barrels for ageing (the wood for which he seasons himself, using a local cooperage); and, much to the horror of Giovanni, his father, planting Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc.