Gaja - Barbaresco 2020 (750ml)
Kerin O'Keefe: 95 Points
The lovely 2020 Gaja Barbaresco has enticing aromas hay violet and ripe forest berry. Elegantly structured the palate offers ripe raspberry dark cherry licorice and blood orange as well as hints of oak-driven spice. Refined tannins and fresh acidity keep it well balanced?
Decanter: 95 Points
Depth structure and complexity are the hallmarks of Nebbiolo and this wine certainly delivers but also offers a juicy helping of fresh berry fruits. It is blended from 14 different sites throughout the Barbaresco DOCG with an average of 40 years of vine age. Barbaresco is the wine that launched the Gaja legacy in 1859. Aromatics of spiced orange peel an assertive bouquet of dried purple florals and a touch of dried mint. The palate balances the savoury character of baking chocolate and fennel seed with an abundance of ripe red berry fruits?notes of strawberry and balsamic raspberries and fresh mint and dried tobacco. There is ample structure but a stylistic transition in more recent vintages of Barbaresco makes this wine immediately drinkable.
koJeb Dunnuck: 94-96 Points
A pale ruby and blended from 14 vineyard sites the 2020 Barbaresco was tasted as a barrel sample. Spicy and pure it is full of red berries with Asian spice and white pepper. On the palate it is medium-bodied with elegance and refinement throughout approachable and fine tannins no harsh edges and a long-lasting floral finish. This seem to be a vintage that will drink well early but have plenty of longevity as well. The Gaja estate was founded in 1859 although it was Angelo Gaja the fourth-generation winemaker of this Barbaresco estate who made the innovations that would help shape the region as it is today. The entire family shares responsibilities across their estates. Great attention is paid to their practice of sustainable and regenerative farming. I met with Giovanni Gaja for this tasting at the estate in Barbaresco and also made a visit to the nearby region of the Alta Langa only 16 kilometers away from the original estate. The latest major development for the estate in Piedmont is a brand new winery exclusively dedicated to their still white wine production in Alta Langa designed by the Italian architect Giovanni Bo who the family have worked with since 1982. The vineyards of Gaia & Rey and Brassica will remain the same but fermentation and production will move to this location. There is greater biodiversity in Alta Langa compared to Barolo and Barbaresco with 60% of the land being undeveloped land and hazelnut farms and only 40% vineyards compared to Barbaresco which has 80% of the land under vine. For this reason as well as the higher elevations this area is seeing an influx of attention across
