I had high hopes when I stood the bottle upright this morning. It is after all a 1996, and a classic vintage. Simple roast chicken, mashed potatoes and peas, the wine wouldn’t have to fight anything, and I could assess it for what it was.
The moment I decanted the wine, I knew it was not my kind of wine. I tried hard, very hard. I told myself to get past the simple nose, all dark, black fruit and vanillin, and pretend that you don’t care that it doesn’t smell like a Barolo, it doesn’t taste like a Barolo. It does have a friendly opening, a massive middle palate, but then it tails off completely, leaving plenty of tannin but no fruit or anything else at the finish. I finished the glass over an hour, hoping it would stretch a little bit, give me something more. It didn’t, the essence just seemed to leave the glass, so in the end even the easygoing fruity opening faded. Fed up, I opened a bottle of 1982 Prieure Lichine, and we had no problem finishing that off.
I am obviously the wrong person to have Gaja in the cellar, and I have one bottle of the 1996 left, so no great commitment. I had hoped to like this wine now that it was over 20 years old. It shows very young, and whether or not, it will ever develop any complexity is an open question, my guess is not, unlike every other 1996 I have tasted including a Gaja Barbaresco Sori Tilden.
For me, it really lacked any character, and blind I would almost certainly not guessed grape or region. Disappointing for a Barolo, and even as a generic wine.
I’m not a big fan of the estate. Only ever bought a small number but that’s also true of the region more generally. However I found the 97 of this quite impressive.
Opened this around 3-4 years ago with Roger Nellens. It was okay. Fine. Not a bad wine but certainly WAY off where this should be. I would describe the above tasting note as mostly spot on for what we experienced. It’s not about timing. It’s about that wine being a nice, simple, flawed (in a way that disallows complexity) and just not what one would expect given pedigree and expense.
This tells the tale of virtually all of my Gaja experiences in retrospect. The wines can be really beautiful when young, but as they age I find they become more foursquare and anonymous- still tasty, but somehow lacking. This holds true for me going back to the 1981 vintage (the Barbaresco.)
But I will also note that my experience with the single vineyard Barbarescos is extremely limited- so on that score I may need to defer to your palate and experience (which I hold in the highest esteem along with a very small number of other individuals.)
For my part, the regular Barbaresco has often delighted at release and disappointed with age. Same goes for the Barolo and the more modern blends like Promis in certain vintages- in lesser years their anonymity is painfully obvious from the start. Given that, I have not been inclined to spend the $300+ to see if things are any different in the long run for the single vineyard Barbarescos at the top of the range. The fact I am using the traditional names for point of reference where Gaja no longer legally can further bolsters my cold shoulder to the Gaja portfolio.
Mark,
that´s the reason why I sold all (ALL!) my Italian wines a good 20 years ago … incl. a few Gajas … they are simply not for me …
I got to taste this wine when young (2000?) … and again some 5 years ago - and my experience is similar … impressive, but monolythic and forthsquare … I can easily do without it …
Gerhard,
I think this is a slightly different take. It’s not that I don’t like Italian wines, I do. My problem with the Gaja was that it didn’t taste very Italian, and once I told myself not to make that an issue, it didn’t taste that good either. The 1982 Prieure was standing patiently otherwise I could have opened a 1996 Marcarini Brunate, and been very happy. It costs one fifth of what the Gaja did, and is a much better wine.
Tom
I have had some really good Sori Tildens, but none of the other Crus. But it’s hard to justify the cost, and a few years ago I stopped buying them.
In fact, I treat Italian wines very differently to my French ones. The gap between the most of the top wines is relatively small compared to the good middle ones. Says a lot about how good the average Pedmont producer is.
The exception is of course Monfortino in a class of its own. Even Giacosa red labels are better but not much better than the best white labels, at least since he lost Collins Rionda. As a value I am buying white labels and selling reds.
Mark I believe there was a stylistic change at Gaja in the early 1980s. When I had the chance to taste say 1978 Barbaresco (in the 90s they were still on the list in Milan) they were alive and fresh and tasted like Nebbiolo. More recent wines (including a 1996 Sperss maybe 10 years ago) were vanilla dominated and closed up and hard to enjoy.
The other possibility is that Gaja isn’t making 20-40 year wines, but more like 75-100 year wines.
In which case, opening a 20-year-old Gaja wouldn’t be infanticide, but more like simply tasting a barrel sample [which is kinda what Gaja tastes like].
I got the chance to try the 1997 Sperss over the course of three days, and it opened up just a tad on Day 2, and then shut down hard as nails again on Day 3.
If you’re holding Gaja, and if you want to keep it in the family, then you might consider putting it in a trust for your great-grandchildren or great-great-grandchildren or great-great-great-grandchildren.
I guess if the youngest person on this board [right now] were 21 years old, then they would have been born about 1996, so if they could live to be 100 years old, then they could try the 1996 Gajas in 2096 and report back to us on their findings.
I think that is really wishful thinking. There is nothing in any of Angelo Gaja’s wines dating to the the 1980s that I have tasted that remotely suggests 100 year wines. On the contrary, my guess is that this will follow what I see as a pattern for his wines and other hefty fruit forward wines, the tannins will soften but the underlying wine never gain much complexity. If the terroir isn’t there by now, I am pretty sure it is not going to magically appear on its 40th birthday.
On the other hand, I will take any excuse to come back in eighty years and check if I am right.
BTW, a quick word about Prieure Lichine. Definitely a winery on the rise, and still relatively cheap. 2009 and 2010 were the best they have made, and still (reasonably) attractively priced.
I bought a bottle of the 1982 as part of a mixed lot at auction. It was lovely, slight better than this bottle. Like many second/third tier 1982s it is beginning to show well, and I have had really good luck with them. Started buying Branaire, La Lagune, Sociando Mallet and this when I can find them. All well under $100.
This bottle was fully resolved, with plenty of bright fruit, great freshness with plenty of acidity, some lovely tertiary bits and pieces, mushroom, leather and leaf meal, with a solid and well layered finish. Slight overlay of winter green added to its allure.
Not a blockbuster, but a really nice bottle of wine.
I don’t know why, but it seems to me that Gaja does well in the warmer vintages. I am not certainly a fan of 1997 as a whole, at all. And Parker’s early ravings about that vintage was the nail in the coffin that caused me to part company with The Wine Advocate. But Gaja did do well in 1997…and especially with Sperss. But Gaja does not seem to do well at all in the cooler and more classic vintages. I would put R. Voerzio in the same category.
I have a strong preference for traditional Nebbiolo, but have been warming up to older Gaja (60s/70s/80s) based upon bottles shared by friends over the past 12-18 months. I tend to agree that the younger Gaja bottles that I’ve tasted (90s and younger) have shown primary, extracted and oak-influenced. But the older Gaja bottles (80s and older), have been fantastic, and the Barbaresco normale has really shined with 35+ years of age.
The central question is whether the wines from the 90s+ will evolve into what I’ve tasted of the 60s/70s/80s Gaja bottles? Or was there is a stylistic change in the 90s that will yield more simplistic and un-interesting wines at age 35+? It will be interesting to try the 96s in 2031 to understand more.
I still remember drinking the 97 Sperss on release. That was an amazing wine.
At an event that I was pouring at a few years back I was stationed next to Gaja. When we showed up in the room we were in we all discovered some eager beaver volunteer had opened every bottle of wine for every winery. So, there were 12 open bottles of 2006 Sori Tildin and not nearly enough people attending the event to drink through even half of them. The person pouring was just the distributor rep and the wine was paid for so she didn’t care. I had more than a couple tastes let me assure you. Very tasty if intensely youthful stuff.
I’ll be a bit of a counter point here. I think Gaja wines can be fascinating. First off, I’m a traditional Nebbiolo lover. Then specific to the 96 Sperss - I think its a great wine but its by no means ready. I peaked in on this one not long ago. But its like many other 96s, its a really structured tannic vintage that is years away from strutting its stuff. On the otherhand, the 97 Sperss is a wine that will provide insane amounts of pleasure right now. I’d drink that all day long! Gaja’s best wines are really ageworthy. In fact, I would put the 1971 Sori San Lorenzo and Sori Tildin amongst my all time top 10 Nebbiolo wines. Certainly my favorite Gaja wines of all time. The 78s are phenomenal (though I’ve found some cork inconsistencies). The 89s are fantastic as well. The wines from the 60s will make any traditional Nebb junkie swoon and have held up really well.
My preference for Gaja is to drink younger. I don’t think they hold up all that well to prolonged aging, at least not in my experience. Have not had the Sperss but many of the Barbarescos and they are just better under 10 years to over 10 years.
Barry,
interesting comment. I was impressed early with the Sperss in 2000, another warm vintage. With respect to “modern” overuse of oak, I’m hoping that Gaja has dialed it back since the excesses of the 1990s. I have a few bottles of the 2006 Sperss, but I haven’t tried one yet.
Regards,
Peter