David’s bitter response aside, it would seem to compare a known example of what some could consider nefarious blending with hypothetical examples of the same, to be a bit of a straw man. Brunello producers had their miseries with such practices and one can only hope that the negative press associated with getting caught acts as a deterrent.
No, I don’t buy them. Really dislike the Tuscan wines. And don’t like the Piedmont wines enough to come close to paying the prices. Also many unanswered questions about the wines.
Such as?
Look up and you shall find.
I do think Viognier is identifiable in Cote-Rotie, not so much in flavor but in aromatics.
Really? Interesting.
Have you done a number of blind tastings just to find out whether or not you can tell the difference? If so, what were the ages of the wines? is it more obvious when they’re younger or older?
I don’t buy at release prices, but I’ll pick up an occasional back-vintage bottle. Gaja’s wines seem to come out of the gate terribly overpriced, soften in price for several years, and then climb again.
With the pricing and all of the history of the brand, it’s easy to shrug off Gaja as more marketing than substance. Then you taste what he can do in a vintage like 1997…
I don’t buy Gaja because of the price, all the other arguments against him are silly and so is the question of Syrah in your Pinot Noir and for that matter so is the argument of Brunello.
How is adding Barbera to your wine any different from using new oak, reverse osmosis, adding tannin, adding acid, picking over ripe grapes or any other wine making or vineyard technique?
Who cares? Brunello has a history of making the type of wines that it does, the American public and people like Parker didn’t like the wines because they weren’t fat enough or ready to drink young so some producers added other grapes to appease markets, who’s fault is that?
And who actually buys Brunello? Point chasers… Sorry but the only time you ever hear about Brunello is when it’s the next vintage of the century or when there is a scandal, every other vintage is always deeply discounted. I sold a ton of 95’s and the price hasn’t really changed that much since then, hell the last time the pubic has paid attention was with the 97’ vintage.
It’a always interesting to me that people who know very little of the wine making process question certain portions of the process without questioning all portions of the process.
My friend just posted on Aantonio Galloni’s site a vertical of Gaja Barbaresco that he showed cased last week. Smattering of wines from 1967 to 2011.
The quality is there. The older wines especially the '67 looked great. There is a bit more oak apparent in the vintages from mid '80s. They appeared to have dialled it back a little in the recent vintages.
They are priced quite high. I really loved their 2004s and purchased the standard barbaresco and few single vineyard wines. I have a few 1999 and 2001’s too. I stopped buying after 2005.
And then recently Gaia Gaja gave me a bottle of 2008 Barbaresco as a present.
Indeed. And then you are lucky enough to taste a pristine bottle of the 1971 San Lorenzo, and you understand that it is one of the all-time top ten Nebbiolo bottlings. I agree with your pricing analysis, Kevin. Leroy grand crus can often do the same thing. I bought when prices were disproportionately high, but much lower than they are today. In truth, Monfortino and Giacosa prices meet or exceed Gaja’s these days. I do find Gaja’s wines to be as worthy of the price as his top-tier competition, and for a time (now gone, it seems), there were some backfill bargains to be had, but I suppose that was once true of all Barolo and Barbaresco. I also understand that these are not wines for everyone and not likely to be chased for their consistently high points because of the prices, although he clearly has no problem selling through his top wines.
Unanswered only for Gary, it appears, who may be speaking out of his derriere on this one…
Bob, you make an important point that has seen no known resolution. Given the long history of illegally blending in alien grapes, mislabeling, etc. in Burgundy, Bordeaux and Montalcino, as well as blending in anti-freeze in Austria, it is hard to imagine that some Barbera or even Dolcetto has not made it in to Baroli and Barbareschi over the years, especially when the overwhelming majority of wines were blended. The three grapes are often grown in the same vineyard, and while they ripen at different times, which probably argues against a “field blend” in most vintages, it seems likely that, in poorer times in the Piemonte, it would be no sin to take the edge off a particularly tough Nebbiolo with a little Barbera. In any event, what Gaja did took balls, and the whole issue is a tempest in a teapot and red herring raised only by those who do not know Gaja’s wines. If a dollop of Barbera is what made Gaja’s 1997 single-vineyards the legends that they are, maybe everybody should be doing it. Gaja, along with Giacosa and the G. Conterno family, is one of the three greatest winemakers in Piemonte history. A dollop of Barbera and a light touch of oak have had no impact on that fact.
In the interest of full disclosure, my Nebbiolo cellar is dominated by pure traditionalists, with only Gaja and Sandrone joining their company, and other than having loaded up on Gaja’s stunning 1996s and 1997s, I have purchased relatively few bottles of Gaja after the 1997 vintage. I have backfilled a goodly amount of his wines over the years, and my post-1997 purchases are dominated by Sperss, because my other fave, San Lorenzo, evolves at such a glacial pace that new purchases would be sure to outlive me…
I do agree with Gary that Gaja’s non-Brunello Tuscans are not his best wines, and I do not buy them, either. In the best vintages, I like his Sugarille Brunello a lot, and the Rennina can be quite good also, but neither is any match for the Brunello top dogs like Soldera Case Basse, Il Poggione Paganelli Riserva or Cerbaiona di Diego Molinari…
He doesn’t like them so nobody else is allowed to.
I always find it amusing that because one sells wine that they assume thay they know more than anyone else. A lot of people ITB could just as well be selling vinyl siding.
Ha!
Some do as a sideline, just as some wine reviewers sell $1,200 Italian leather wine totes as a sideline. Or give them away as door prizes… 
Only when I’m in Jamaica. I have a Rasta friend who hooks me up. 
I am lucky enough to have tasted some of the pre1982 Barbaresco vintages (especially 1978, for a while available at reasonable prices in restaurants) and enjoyed them greatly. The post1982 wines seem to me to be different though perhaps waiting another decade or three might reveal something I have not seen, so I have largely not bought. And my one Sperss experience (96 in a restaurant a few years ago) revealed a wine that was massive and not evolving quickly enough for me to be sure it would be pleasurable in my lifetime. But if someone else wants to buy I’ll try more.
I also make it so…
Explain to me your original argument that turned into purity in winemaking?
And Michael, have you made wine and if so, how do you go about retaining the purity and honesty of your product?
I used to but pricing is now out of range for me. I still have some Barbaresco, Sperss and Conteisa from the late nineties - especially the 97’s.
The only bad bottle of Gaja I ever had was a 71 San Lorenzo…it was corked!!! Every other Gaja bottle consumed has offered some much pleasure.
I buy the much more affordable Promis these days when it’s on sale. I’ll usually pick up 1/2-1 case and drink as an everyday wine.