August 19, 2023 - nose - fragrant, perfumed, with time prunes and tar
mouth - dense dark fruits; a mouthful of flavor which edges to the riper / dried fruit edge of the spectrum. Very enjoyable and in no risk of declining anytime soon.
March 31, 2023 - superb - so refined.
August 6, 2022 - Really delicious and drinking nicely after a 10-12 hour slow ox. Plenty of fruit with some tertiary character mixing in.
March 12, 2022 - Another Gaja, another great Nebbiolo. Very precise, very smooth, nearly at its peak - there are only some nicely integrated tannins in the finish. At the beginning it is full of dark, creamy fruit that develops together with a discreet acidity and some spice into a moderately long finish. Top notch harmonic wine.
September 15, 2021 - Dinner at Osteria Langhe (Chicago, IL): Next to the Bartolo Mascarello, it feels as if this wine were 10 years younger. The black fruit is exuberant, sweet, and still quite primary. There are very few signs of aging here. I love the generous density of black fruit here, which may be the only nod towards the modernists in this wine (as this doesn't have any sensation of new oak). Great now, but this will only get better.
August 2, 2021 - When I'm 64
Wine 2
A celebration of a 64th, wines that will still be great on my 64th
This wine simply stunned me. Fresh, round, perfectly balanced; nose has classic roses, leather, and more eucalyptus than I have ever found in Piedmontese wines. The tannins are fine, the fruit is lively, and the acid is in check. Finishes long and strong.
This wine infuriates me. It's one of those wines in the region that shows how world class Piedmont CAN be. Yet so few are.
Aging 2035+
June 22, 2021 - Smooth elegance
January 22, 2021 - Decanted for 3 hours
Lovely nose of dark red fruits, a touch of game. At its peak. Stunning. Wish I had more.
October 27, 2020 - Lots of dark ripe fruit, lots of tannin present on the finish, could use some time to open up. Will surely be more expressive with air and/or a few more years in the bottle, but still very delicious!
Drank the second half of this bottle a few days later (used coravin on the first half) and gave it 3 hours to breathe in the decanter this time around. Big improvement.
October 25, 2020 - i like it, but I find the wine very difficult to assess - drunk over two days, it was nicer on day one, clearly well made with lovely balance, not a lot of complexity though, it had faded to almost nothing on the second day