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| Drinking Windows and Values |
| Community Tasting History |
| Community Tasting Notes (average 94.1 pts. and median of 94 pts. in 120 notes) - hiding notes with no text | | | Tasted by grub94 on 2/24/2024 & rated 96 points: Aging beautifully. Classic rose petals, roasted meat, dark cherry, light leather, herb garden. Tannins finally softened, Still some acidity and good weight on the palate. Gorgeous! (688 views) | | | Tasted by paulst on 2/23/2024 & rated 97 points: Earth; cherry; licorice; elegant; long. (782 views) | | | Tasted by paulst on 2/8/2024 & rated 93 points: Light and austere; lean and elegant; earth with cherry and licorice; lingering finish. (841 views) | | | Tasted by faivre_eric on 12/21/2023 & rated 95 points: Consistent notes with previous tasting.
Powerfull and very balanced, simply yummy!
Would not necessarily rush to finish all the bottles in stock. (838 views) | | | Tasted by NJwineguy on 7/3/2023 & rated 87 points: Tough
To
Score
Nice mouthfeel Mild
Bricking Nose a bit off Better in the mouth for sure Feels like it’s heading down
Will see with next bottle (1416 views) | | | Tasted by Bandreas on 6/27/2023: Tasted at Roberto's with Jim and Donna Cahill.
Mature red color, turning a warm reddish brown at the edge.
Nose of Carob, some cocoa, tannins,
on the palate soft, with dusty tannins, healthy acidity which seems to be coming more to the foreground, finishes on dusty note with slightly puckering tannins. medium long finish. After being opened for three hours and at the tasting in the restaurant it had become downright flamboyant, silky and expressive. As Jim put it: "This is singing tonight!" Donna preferred it over the Rabaja Barbaresco which was made in the more traditional style. (1086 views) | | | Tasted by soyhead on 6/3/2023: 2nd time trying this , courtesy of the same generous soul, more limited notes; a touch smoky, great fruit, and solid tannins. a touch of prune. (1141 views) | | | Tasted by joshabramson on 1/20/2023: Second time drinking this, similar notes to last time… really needs 2-3 hours of air to come alive, after which this is drinking great! Super fresh, youthful, precise and juicy! (1605 views) | | | Tasted by cnichelson on 12/9/2022 flawed bottle: Mildly corked. Just enough to mute any remaining fruit (1426 views) | | | Tasted by mdefreitas on 8/28/2022 & rated 96 points: Twenty three years since I last tasted this. Back then it was a fruit bomb and not very Barolo -ike. Now, while still a bit primary, it has softened and taken on complexity. A bit more layered, with licorice and tar-like elements creeping in. This really needed some decanting, but gorgeous, albeit in a masculine, Bordeaux-like way. Not one for traditionalists. (1603 views) | | | Tasted by Jofie on 5/26/2022 & rated 100 points: Without much ado: I simply caught a perfect bottle of a great Barolo. Perfectly stored and aged, the wine hardly shows its age. The smell is absolutely typical for Gaja - an overwhelming fruit explosion mixed with wood, tobacco and leather that you just can't get enough of - you are tempted to smell it all evening. The taste is in no way inferior: precise and clear primary fruit (which would make you think the wine is half the age), beautifully integrated acidity, perfectly integrated tannin, gentle melting and a great length, paired with leather and wood. This is simply stunning and the best Nebbiolo I have ever drunk. (1985 views) | | | Tasted by soyhead on 3/11/2022: bought by bigmike on released and cellared ever since
quite resolved, perhaps even coming across a bit tired. tasting a bit like a mature bordeaux. lots of coffee and some dark fruit, but lacks kick. drink up, i dont see much upside to holding. (2187 views) | | | Tasted by hprphf on 3/11/2022 & rated 94 points: Light touch with marked intensity on the palate. Delicious Barolo. 93-94 (1893 views) | | | Tasted by dofzin on 9/5/2021 & rated 93 points: Decanted. Light sediment (less than expected?) and a dark ruby red color. Nose of apples and fermented fruit upon first decanting. Let stand for 3 hours and the bouquet of fruits expanded greatly. Black cherries, tree fruit, some pepper and tar. Wonderful integration of fruit and tannins, continuing to improve over a further 2 hours. Drinkable upon opening, but definitely better a few hours after decanting and worth the wait. (2320 views) | | | Tasted by Vini Ciclismo on 8/7/2021 & rated 93 points: Powerful, ripe fruits, rich, classic ink and tar spice, still with big furry tannins. Chunky structure, Impressive for its age, plenty of time ahead. (2161 views) | | | Tasted by joshabramson on 7/3/2021 & rated 96 points: Great bottle. Extremely fresh, youthful and juicy. Demands a bit of air, and will surely continue to develop for many years to come, but drinking really well today. (2182 views) | | | Tasted by viking92067 on 4/18/2021 & rated 93 points: Gaja is always a delight. Wish I had drank this one 5 years earlier. (2003 views) | | | Tasted by Benoit Hardy on 1/24/2021 & rated 93 points: The nose is explosive on pepper. With aeration, will come graphite, cocoa and cinnamon. But the spice will always dominate.
In the mouth, it is dense. The substance is enormous on this wine, we have a rare concentration, with a spice always taking the top but in a finer way than on the nose. The wine invades the palate like a steamroller but without any heaviness: the filigree acidity and melted tannins serve the wine, they stretch it and tame this enormous juice by throwing it in the mouth like the arrow of a bow. It traces but it does not tire the taste buds, it is clean and dense at the same time. The finish is on cocoa with a very nice length.
Excellent (2456 views) | | | Tasted by faivre_eric on 1/2/2021 & rated 96 points: Simply insane that a wine takes THREE decades to be ready for full enjoyment!
Powerful yet elegant, harmonious and balanced showing aromas of full ripe fruits and leather / cigar notes. Soft tannins and long finish.
One of the best Barolo I tasted! (1864 views) | | | Tasted by joshabramson on 8/22/2020 flawed bottle: I opened two 375ml bottles, both seemed to suffer from bad storage conditions and had to go down the drain. (2362 views) | | | Tasted by Cailles on 5/5/2020 & rated 94 points: This is an aristocratic, highly elegant wine which shines with its inner harmony and balance more than with an expressive aroma profile. It got better with a lot of air revealing ever more aromas. Not with the best Barolos out there in terms of complexity and precision but nevertheless a very fine wine which is in a good spot (with a lot of air) but can further improve for some more years. 94 points with 95 in its best moments
TN: At first a bit muted but with time very nice black truffles, tar, mushroom notes with more floral than red fruit notes. Crushed wet rocks, a very nice herbal component and with more time a ripe slightly liquory red fruit. Not hyper intense and precise but on a good to very good level. Very harmonious and elegant with melted tannins and an uplifting acidity and with time a more creamy texture.
Decanting: Needs at least 5 hours in the decanter. (3223 views) | | | Tasted by dcwino on 2/9/2020 & rated 96 points: Sommelier Appreciation Dinner 2020 (The Brown Residence): Classic Gaja, big and rich, concentrated black fruit, dark spices and tar. Mostly masked tannins due to opulent fruit. Drinking beautifully. Unless one really doesn’t care for Gaja, it is hard not to like this wine. (3511 views) | | | Tasted by Kemo Sabe on 12/27/2019 & rated 95 points: This was stunning. Far more complex and nuanced vs Costa Russi in the next glass. Both wines were out of mag. This was slightly darker and deeper with more dark fruit, leather and deep red berry flavors. This is a baby esp from this format. Gave it 6 hours of air in a decanter before dinner. Absolutely fantastic. (2747 views) | | | Tasted by BradE on 11/22/2019: An absolutely fantastic bottle. Delightful. (2892 views) | | | Tasted by acyso on 11/2/2019 & rated 93 points: Nebbiolos, white truffles, Volume IV (Chicago, IL): This is a better wine than the 1989 that I had a few months ago. A very black-fruited profile but the oak use here has me thinking this is more Bordeaux than nebbiolo. The fruit is dense and sweet, but not overdone at all. The tannic structure at the end also feels a little more bordelais, and I think it's pretty apparent that this wine still has plenty to go before it is mature. (3001 views) | | | Only displaying the 25 most recent notes - click to see all notes for this wine... |
| Gaja Producer website
Located in the Tuscany and Piedmont regions of Italy, Gaja makes collectible Nebbiolo, Sangiovese, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Chardonnay wines, including the Langhe Conteisa label. Gaja wines are among the highest-rated in all of Italy. It is perhaps best known for its Super Tuscans, which are some of the most elegant on the market. However, the estate also makes top-quality wines rooted in Italian tradition, such as Barbaresco. It is perhaps the most lauded Barbaresco producer today.
Although the estate produces 18 different wines, the production is low at just 350,000 bottles per year, making these wines very rare. The best Gaja vintages include 2018, 2016, and 2015 as well as historically well-performing vintages such as 2013, 2011, 2010, 2008, 2004, and 2003. Many of Gaja’s best vintages have received perfect scores from criticsNebbioloNebbiolo is a red grape indigenous to the Piedmont region of Italy in the Northwest. The grape can also be found in other parts of the world, though they are not as respected.
Nebbiolo is often considered the "king of red wines," as it is the grape of the famed wines of Barolo DOCG, Barbaresco DOCG, and Roero DOCG. It is known for high tannins and acidity, but with a distinct finesse. When grown on clay, Nebbiolo can be very powerful, tannic, and require long aging periods to reach its full potential. When grown on sand, the grape exhibits a more approachable body with more elegant fruit and less tannins, but still has high aging potential.
"Nebbiolo" is named for the Italian word, "nebbia", which means "fog", in Italian and rightfully so since there is generally a lot of fog in the foothills of Piedmont during harvest.
Nebbiolo is a late-ripening variety that does best in a continental climate that boasts moderate summers and long autumns. In Piedmont, Nebbiolo is normally harvested in October.
More links:
Varietal character (Appellation America) | Nebbiolo on CellarTrackerSperssThrough the 1995 vintage, the Gaja single cru Sperss was labeled as Barolo. However, starting with 1996 Gaja formally chose to eschew the DOCG requirements for Barolo (for example, by blending Barbera and Cabernet Sauvignon into the wines when only Nebbiolo is allowed in Barolo DOCG) in favor of the more humble Langhe DOC appellation. What this means is that these wines are defined two ways with 1995 and older as Barolo and 1996 and newer as Langhe DOC.Italy Italian Wines (ItalianMade.com, The Italian Trade Commission) | Italian Wine Guide on the WineDoctorPiedmont Vignaioli Piemontesi (Italian only)
On weinlagen-infoLanghe Consorzio di Tutela Barolo Barbaresco Alba Langhe e Roero | Union of Producers of Albese Wines (Albeisa)BaroloRegional History:
The wines of Piedmont are noted as far back as Pliny's Natural History. Due to geographic and political isolation, Piedmont was without a natural port for most of its history, which made exportation treacherous and expensive. This left the Piedmontese with little incentive to expand production. Sixteenth-century records show a mere 14% of the Bassa Langa under vine -- most of that low-lying and farmed polyculturally. In the nineteenth century the Marchesa Falletti, a frenchwoman by birth, brought eonologist Louis Oudart from Champagne to create the first dry wines in Piemonte. Along with work in experimental vineyards at Castello Grinzane conducted by Camilo Cavour -- later Conte di Cavour, leader of the Risorgimento and first Prime Minister of Italy -- this was the birth of modern wine in the Piedmont. At the heart of the region and her reputation are Alba and the Langhe Hills. This series of weathered outcroppings south of the Tanaro River is of maritime origin and composed mainly of limestone, sand and clay, known as terra bianca. In these soils -located mainly around the towns of Barolo and Barbaresco -- the ancient allobrogica, now Nebbiolo, achieves its renowned fineness and power.
map of Barolo DOCG
An interesting thread on Traditional vs. Modern Barolo producers:
https://www.wineberserkers.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=106291 |
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