Do you like the blending practices? Do the proprietary names aggravate you? Do you think the pricing is outrageous for what is in the bottle. From what I understand, there can be some pretty good Barbaresco made but is it really worth the price?
No, but Bill does 
The wines are quite good, but not at the prices asked.
Don’t give a crap about the rest of the stuff you asked.
Yes. Do you?
Wish I did, but it’s out of my price range. The few I have had were wonderful.
So, if you don’t mind a dollop of Barbera in your Nebbiolo, do you mind Syrah added to your Pinot Noir?
It would seem that here in the Big Easy that they can’t give the stuff away.
I have only had the Promis and I liked it a lot. Is it worth the price, only if I can get it on sale.
Only the Sperss Barolo… And at this point I am not sure I will live long enough to consume future vintages. Old Gaja can be magnificent!
The two are not even remotely related. Do you suspect that you could detect 0-5% Barbera in a Nebbiolo-based wine, any more than you can taste the Viognier blended into Syrah in Cote-Rotie? And if they cannot give it away in the Big Easy, why not volunteer to take it off their hands? I paid $73 a bottle for 1996 Sperss…do you suppose that I got my money’s worth?
Some, not much. Love the wines. Not the pricing. Don’t begrudge them, just can’t afford much.
Was it not you who just recently went on ad nauseum about the necessity of a single variety for expression of terroir? And you don’t think blending Barbera into Nebbiolo is sacrilege?
I do think Viognier is identifiable in Cote-Rotie, not so much in flavor but in aromatics.
And speaking of Viognier, I had one of their convoluted cuvées at a Gaja dinner the other night: Chardonnay and Viognier. Damn tasty wine but not something that I would buy.
funny tangential story: years ago, I was eyeing a bottle of Gaja at a restaurant, engaged the sommelier in a 10 minute discussion before noticing my wife, arms crossed and not happy. I turned to her and said, “sorry, honey, let’s get the Gaja Barbaresco.” She looked at me incredulously and replied, “are you kidding? You just met him!”
Bought 1997 Rennina at auction for under $100, very nice.
Not a fan of the Promis but never had it with any age.
Had various Barolo and Barbaresco a few times and they were superb but prices are prohibitive.
I love them but mostly have to depend on the kindness of strangers (and friends) to share.
Yes, I did, but I never mentioned Gaja as the terroir standard-bearer. However, as it turns out, he IS a terroir standard-bearer, because we have many vintages of his 100% Nebbiolo, single-vineyard wines prior to his decision to reserve the right to add Barbera. Adding a small amount of Barbera is no more or less a sacrilege than blending several Nebbiolo vineyards. Gaja’s wines have a signature that would keep the Barbera from being noticed anyway, but the signature also disappears with time and leaves brilliant Nebbiolo behind…
Picked some up with age at auction at less than wholesale price of current releases…suggesting that demand is soft in our market.
Ditto here in NZ, Kent. Gaja has no current NZ importer,that I know of. They’re good wines but not a value proposition at typical overseas retail pricing.
You asked about Gaja. I don’t give a crap about your straw man.
I guess the other problem with, as David just referred to it, Michael’s straw man, is that to criticize Gaja implies we know categorically that other winemakers don’t do it. When Gaja first decided to use the “IGT-style” labeling, there was a lot of discussion that he was just the first guy willing to admit to what had previously been a fairly common practice.
Regardless of whether he is or isn’t the only winemaker using Barbera in the blend these days, I honestly couldn’t discern it, so to me it’s a non-issue. My lack of purchasing has always been a QPR issue - and I would make the same point about Leroy Burgundies. I think the end product is very well-made, but you can never use the words Gaja and QPR in the same sentence. To be honest, ever since Bruna took over the administrative aspects of Giacosa, I really haven’t been a buyer there either, and as much as I like Roberto Conterno’s work, Cascina Francia at $150 a bottle is a non-starter as well.