Complete with producer profiles and tags
Gaja
Via Torino, 5, 12050 Barbaresco CN, Italia
Categories
Iconic Producers
Location
Langhe - Barbaresco
No producer in all Piemonte is more famous than Gaja. The family arrived from Spain during the 17th century, eventually opening a tavern in Barbaresco where they later served guests their unlabelled wines. Following World War II, Giovanni Gaja expanded significantly, purchasing a series of prime vineyard sites and branding his bottles with the family name in bold red lettering. In 1961, Angelo Gaja—whose industrious nature was strongly influenced by his grandmother Clotilde—joined his father working in Barbaresco after completing studies in winemaking in Alba and Montpellier, and in economics at the University of Turin.
Angelo began running the family business in 1970, beginning a period of transformation, revolution and significant commercial expansion. In the winery, Gaja implemented French barriques, thermo-controllable fermentation equipment, advancements in malolactic fermentation, and many more technological advancements. In the vineyard, he instigated experiments with green harvest, bottled single-vineyard wines, and planted French grape varieties, including Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay. The results were spectacular, and those wines spanning 1960-1990 are among the greatest fine wines ever made. Gaja also travelled widely, marketing his wines in restaurants and with fine wine merchants as far as America, where his wines achieved much higher prices than any Italian counterpart. He later established a distribution company, later establishing relationships with international producers, including a partnership with Riedel. Expansion followed later, including wineries and vineyards in Tuscany and Etna—the family’s restoration of the Saint Restituta church is breathtaking.
Today, though Angelo is not formally retired, his children Gaia, Rossana, and Giovanni run the business and are navigating a new era growing their presence with on-trade clients. Whilst Gaja might not enjoy the same fanfare it once did amongst collectors, the wines remain highly attractive, fruit-focussed, polished and dense with great ageing potential.
Angelo began running the family business in 1970, beginning a period of transformation, revolution and significant commercial expansion. In the winery, Gaja implemented French barriques, thermo-controllable fermentation equipment, advancements in malolactic fermentation, and many more technological advancements. In the vineyard, he instigated experiments with green harvest, bottled single-vineyard wines, and planted French grape varieties, including Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay. The results were spectacular, and those wines spanning 1960-1990 are among the greatest fine wines ever made. Gaja also travelled widely, marketing his wines in restaurants and with fine wine merchants as far as America, where his wines achieved much higher prices than any Italian counterpart. He later established a distribution company, later establishing relationships with international producers, including a partnership with Riedel. Expansion followed later, including wineries and vineyards in Tuscany and Etna—the family’s restoration of the Saint Restituta church is breathtaking.
Today, though Angelo is not formally retired, his children Gaia, Rossana, and Giovanni run the business and are navigating a new era growing their presence with on-trade clients. Whilst Gaja might not enjoy the same fanfare it once did amongst collectors, the wines remain highly attractive, fruit-focussed, polished and dense with great ageing potential.
Flagship Wines
Gaja Sorì San Lorenzo
Gaja Sperss Barolo