Barbaresco Sori Tildin Gaja 1989
Barbaresco Sori Tildin Gaja 1989
HED89187
75 cl
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98 Robert Parker
Angelo Gaja’s 1989s and 1990s are simply glorious. Gaja is frequently criticized, especially in Italy, a country that has an uneasy relationship with success of any kind. To be sure, Gaja likes to mix things up with views that are at times perhaps unnecessarily provocative. Prices have always been a point of contention among the estate’s detractors, as even Gaja’s father Giovanni sold his own wines at prices considered to be astronomical more than 50 years ago. At the end of the day, though, the only thing that counts is what is in the glass, and the simple truth is that these wines are utterly mind-blowing. Angelo Gaja had at least one big advantage vis-a-vis his neighbors. Gaja began working full-time at his family’s winery in 1969, and was followed a year later in 1970 by oenologist Guido Rivella. By the time 1989 came around Gaja and Rivella had been working together for nearly 20 years, and were perfectly positioned to make the most of these two historic harvests, which they certainly did. Gaja was so far ahead of his time that there are plenty of producers in Piedmont (and Italy) that still haven’t caught up to the groundbreaking wines he made 20 years ago. I have had many of Gaja’s 1989s and 1990s recently in less formal settings and have never been anything less than deeply impressed. Readers fortunate to own these bottles should be thrilled. For his 1989s and 1990s, Gaja carried out the malolactic fermentations in stainless steel and aged the wines for a year in French oak followed by a year in cask, an approach he employs t
91 Vinous
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Gaja
From Turin to Tuscany
The Gaja Winery was founded in 1859 by Giovanni Gaja and has been owned and operated by five generations of the Gaja family. One of Italy’s most renowned and dynamic wineries, Gaja first established its world-class reputation with the powerful reds it produced in the region of Piemonte in Northwestern Italy.
A key figure was Angelo Gaja, who took over the running of the estate in 1970 and sought to showcase the best that the Nebbiolo grape could produce with stellar Barolo and Barbaresco wines. The estate produces unique white wines too, such as the marvellous single varietal Sauvignon Blanc, Alteni di Brassica.
Gaja is also a leading name in Tuscany, having diversified into the production of Brunello and Super Tuscan wines. The Gaja family have owned the Pieve Santa Restituta estate since 1994 from which they produce two single-vineyard Brunello di Montalcino wines, Rennina and Sugarille. In 1996, Angelo Gaja purchased the Ca’Marcanda estate in Bolgheri.
