At the age of just 21, Angelo Gaja took over the family winery from his father in 1961, who was then mayor of Barbaresco. Angelo studied both oenology in Alba and Montpellier as well as economics in Turin. The innovative young winemaker never took the easiest path from then on, but caused quite a stir among neighbors and other winemakers in the extremely traditional Piedmont region with his visionary changes – back then, that could really get uncomfortable!

From the very beginning, Angelo pursued an uncompromising quality philosophy. Even his grandparents built their name on customer loyalty and quality. Angelo took the best wineries from France as a model, which he had visited on his travels. His number one goal was to bring the region up to date with the latest oenological possibilities in the 1970s and 1980s. This ranged from wire training systems to higher vine density, meticulous clone selection, and ideal row orientation to temperature control during fermentation. He also took a risk with the choice of grape varieties when he planted one of his best sites with Cabernet Sauvignon instead of Nebbiolo. "Darmagi" (a pity) was his father's reproachful comment at the time. Before Angelo Gaja, there were virtually no international grape varieties in Piedmont. Reducing yields to increase quality was considered a sin back then, especially by the older generation, who showed no understanding. And when Angelo Gaja began aging his wines in new barriques, he caused an uproar and a turbulent storm of outrage swept over Piedmont.

At the same time as the Produttori del Barbaresco, Angelo Gaja was the first winemaker to bottle a single-vineyard wine with his Sori San Lorenzo in 1967. Success proved the maverick right, and Angelo managed to achieve great international success with his wines. Even today, the wines are among the most sought-after in the region. Gaja earned the nickname "Angelo Nazionale" for his courage and drive.

In 1996, Angelo Gaja caused a sensation again when he voluntarily downgraded his single-vineyard Barbaresco wines from the highest quality category, DOCG, to DOC Langhe Nebbiolo. This gave him the freedom to blend a small proportion of Barbera into the Nebbiolo. The consortium was outraged. Starting with the 2013 vintage, roughly coinciding with the entry of the next generation into the winery, all single-vineyard wines were again bottled as pure Nebbiolo under the DOCG Barbaresco name.