1996 Gaja Langhe Nebbiolo Costa Russi

Community Tasting Notes (15) Avg Score: 93.3 points

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  1/14/2023 - forceberry wrote: 94 Points

  I believe this was the first vintage Angelo Gaja blended his Barbaresco Costa Russi with Barbera (5% of the total blend) making the wine ineligible for DOCG Barbaresco. Barbera is used to boost acidity, soften tannins and add color to the wine. Otherwise the wine is made like Gaja's Barbarescos, ie. aged in French oak barriques, then blended and aged for a period of time in oak botti. 13,5% alcohol. Tasted blind in a 1996-themed tasting.
  
  Dense, fully opaque black cherry color with an evolved maroon hue. The nose feels ripe, dark-toned and quite aged with sweetly-fruited aromas of licorice and cassis, some wizened dark plummy tones, a little bit of soy sauce, light gamey tones, a hint of pipe tobacco, a touch of wilted flowers and a whiff of tar. The wine feels ripe, dense and sinewy on the palate with a full body and intense, ripe flavors of juicy blackcurrants and pipe tobacco, some tar, a little bit of gamey meat, light woody notes of pencil shavings, a tertiary hint of soy sauce and a touch of dark plummy fruit. Although the fruit department is getting pretty aged and tertiary, the structure is still pretty tough and angular with the high acidity and still very assertive and noticeably grippy tannins. The finish is very long, tightly-knit and quite tannic with an intense aftertaste of ripe blackcurrants and sour cherries, some tobacco, a little bit of gamey meat, light salty notes of soy sauce, a hint of gravelly minerality and a touch of toasty oak spice.
  
  It seems that fruit-wise the wine has reached its plateau of maturity and those tertiary notes won't do anything but grow in intensity as the wine ages. Structurally the wine could age for decades more, but it feels like the fruit department isn't going to last as much as the tannins would need to resolve. I was surprised how remarkably Bordeaux-like the wine was both aromatically and on the palate. Everybody else went immediate for Bordeaux with their guesses - and I was about to go as well - but there were some elements that pulled me towards Italy in the end. However, due to the noticeably cassis-driven flavor profile, I still thought the wine had a noticeable Cabernet Sauvignon component, so I guessed a 1996 DOC Piedmont wine that'd be either a varietal Cab or a Nebbiolo-Cabernet Sauvignon blend. Well, it turned out that the wine was a "Barbaresco" with no Cab whatsoever! Even after the wine was revealed I thought the wine felt more like Bordeaux than Barbaresco, so even if I managed to guess Piedmont correctly, I really must admit I don't get that much sense of place or variety from here. A great wine in its own right, but feels more like a wine that speaks to people who like Bordeaux rather than Barbaresco. Will keep, but perhaps not age.

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  7/19/2022 - talbot61 wrote:

  At Boston Wine & Poker, Needham, July 17, 2022: (Tasted blind). This was in the middle of a line-up of big California cabernets, and it seemed right at home. Too oaky for my taste, but is certainly in a prime drinking window for drinkers who are inclined to value heft over fragrance.

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  12/12/2019 - ubercuvee wrote:

  It's certainly impressive, but frankly this comes across as modern, thick, without much aromatic complexity. Three are quite a few Baroli I'd take over this that costs 1/4 of what this does

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  6/30/2019 - ceadsearc Likes this wine: 95 Points

  The wine of the night. On the nose, lots of mushrooms, soy sauce, and truffles. On the palate, you get the soy sauce, the umami, the black fruit, liquorice, candy, and spices. A lovely combination of elegance and power, with everything working together in harmony. I can see what the hype is about Gaja.

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  6/29/2019 - vinhonotte Likes this wine: 90 Points

  Praelum - The Winefather (Praelum Wine Bistro): Nose of strawberry, grass, and herb botanicals. Some green tannins and acids, and a pretty good intensity and spice, with blackberry, cherry, and grassy

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