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, but rather clashed with his visionary changes in the extremely traditional Piedmont, which could become quite uncomfortable at the time!

From the very beginning, Angelo pursued an uncompromising quality philosophy. His grandparents had already built their name on customer loyalty and quality. Angelo took inspiration from the best wineries in France that 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 to a higher vine density, meticulous clone selection, and ideal orientation of the vine rows 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" (too bad) was the reproachful comment from his father at the time. Before Angelo Gaja, there were virtually no international grape varieties in Piedmont. Reducing yields to increase quality was then considered a sin, which especially met with incomprehension from the older generation. And when Angelo Gaja began to age his wines in new barriques, it caused a real uproar and a turbulent storm of outrage swept over Piedmont.

Alongside the Produttori del Barbaresco, Angelo Gaja was the first winemaker to bottle a single vineyard wine in 1967 with his Sori San Lorenzo. The 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 once again caused a stir when he voluntarily downgraded his single vineyard Barbaresco from the highest quality category, the DOCG, to the DOC Langhe Nebbiolo. This gave him the freedom to blend a small percentage of Barbera into the Nebbiolo. The consortium was outraged. Starting with the 2013 vintage, coinciding with the entry of the next generation into the winery, all vineyard wines were again bottled as pure Nebbiolo under the name of the DOCG Barbaresco.