Gaja: Barbaresco 2021

At the age of just 21, Angelo Gaja took over the family winery from his father in 1961, who was then the 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 get really 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 his 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, ideal row orientation, and temperature control during fermentation. He also took a risk with grape variety selection 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 improve quality was considered a sin back then and was met with incomprehension, especially by the older generation. And when Angelo Gaja began aging his wines in new barriques, he caused an uproar, and a turbulent storm of outrage swept through Piedmont.

At the same time as the Produttori del Barbaresco, Angelo Gaja was the first winemaker to bottle a single-vineyard wine in 1967 with his Sori San Lorenzo. Success proved the maverick right, and Angelo managed to achieve great international success with his wines. Even today, the wines remain 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 from the highest quality category, DOCG, to DOC Langhe Nebbiolo. This gave him the freedom to blend a small amount of Barbera into the Nebbiolo. The consortium was outraged. Starting with the 2013 vintage, roughly coinciding with the next generation joining the winery, all single-vineyard wines were again bottled as pure Nebbiolo under the DOCG Barbaresco name.