Looking for Gaja Guidance

WINE TALK
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I have had trouble getting into Italian wines, but have made some good progress in the past several months. It all started with a glass of Gaja pieve santa restituta Brunello. Wow, what a delicious, concentrated, leathery wine - a real eye opener for me. I quickly learned that Gaja is one of the most famous Italian producers, but neither for that region nor that grape! I also discovered that they are quite expensive. The bottle i had tasted is about $80 and that is at the lower end of their line. I see that Gaja does produce another handful of wines in the 40-90$ range.

Having not had experience with these wines, I am hoping to save some time and money by seeking guidance here. What of the less expensive Gaja line is great qpr worth pursuing? Is there a single of their more expensive bottles - maybe a Barbaresco - that is a benchmark wine to splurge on? Very curious for thoughts from the group. Cheers!

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Iā€™m not sure pursuing Gaja is the most likely route to value. The name carries a premium in pricing.

Donā€™t discount pursuing the other direction, of Sangiovese in Tuscany (or indeed Emilia-Romagna is you tread carefully). Plenty of other Brunello wines, and there are some superb Chianti wines that remain relatively affordable.

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I agree with Ian. If you want to explore Italian wines, donā€™t start (or really even finish) with Gaja. Theyā€™re overpriced for the most part. The one exception would be the entry level Super Tuscans that I find on a lot of restaurant lists devoid of other quality choices. They are solid wines for $60 or around $100-120 on restaurant lists.

You can buy an ocean of high quality Barolo, Barbaresco, and Brunello for under $100. There are many threads here with suggestions. Iā€™d start with 2019 Produttori del Barbaresco for around $40.

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Thanks for the comments but im afraid i wasnt clear. Unrelated to my Gaja question, I have in fact been enjoying and exploring Italian wines recently - especially 6 or so classic styles. And i assure you i am keeping most purchases under 100 a bottle!

For this thread, i was mostly just curious about Gaja and their line since i was so taken with that first bottle, which turned out to be a peculiar one for the producer.

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Gajaā€™s ā€œother winesā€ from Piedmont are another breed entirely. As these guys are recommending - why donā€™t you explore Brunello - stick with ripe vintages (Gaja tends to make a pretty masculine Brunello) and you will find quite a few bargains in the $60-$80 range. And as Ian suggested, try some of the upper tier Chianti wines - Fontodiā€™s wines from Chianti Classico are larger scaled, modern and great bargains as well -

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I agree with the above. I recently did a very young tasting of Gajaā€™s lineup, and though it was nice, I found much of it overpriced.

Gaja Sito Moresco if you can find it in the under $50, which is somewhat harder these days. Iā€™ve purchased from Costco for $40.

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I respectfully disagree that Gaja is overrated or overpriced as a broad statement. They are high end premium producer with a substantial track record, and their pricing is not particularly out of whack if you compare it to producers on that level from California and France.

I would say, though, there is a pretty strong consensus that Gajaā€™s premium wines need 25+ years to start showing their best. They are on a very long and slow aging curve. If you want to splurge on one, look for a mature bottle at retail or auction, see how you like it. No sense spending hundreds on something to wait a quarter century and see if you ended up liking it or not.

Attempting to focus on your question, they are a Barolo/Barbaresco producer, though some of their premium wines use a proprietary label instead of those names, I think sometimes because they donā€™t bother to observe 100% compliance with the DOCG rules.

They do have some other wines, a cabernet, a couple of chardonnays, the Brunello that you had, and two other labels they use for Tuscany. The first is Pieve Santa Restituta makes the Brunello, and occasionally a Brunello Riserva. Iā€™ve never had that one, actually.

Their larger production, restaurant-focused Super Tuscan brand is called Caā€™Marcanda. In looking, they make four reds and a white: the Bolgheri Camarcanda (a Bordeaux blend, red label), the Magari (60% cab franc, 30% cab, 10% petit Verdot, black label), Promis (55% merlot, 35% Syrah, 10% Sangiovese, blue label), and Vistamare (a white wine, shiny blue label).

Promis is referred to as ā€œGaja by the glass,ā€ as itā€™s on many restaurant lists and usually a good value for the quality relative to most wine lists. Somewhat in the middle ground between traditional and very modern Super Tuscan style. Drinks well enough young with some decanting, probably ages to medium age well too. Retails around $40.

Magari is a step up, maybe $50-60? Very nice wine, smooth, modern but elegant.

I have never encountered the Camaranda or the Vistamare.

I think the two Caā€™Marcanda reds might be of interest to you, or maybe keep an eye out for them on a restaurant list sometime. Are the absolutely best and most distinctive wines you can buy at those price points? No, but theyā€™re solid value and good wines.

The larger answer to your question, I think, is to explore Brunello more. There are lots of good producers, the majority of vintages there are good, they arenā€™t hard to find, they drink well young but age well too. Itā€™s a great place for delicious wines with good value up and down the pricing spectrum. They arenā€™t one of the holy grails to hardcore wine geeks, but thatā€™s probably why theyā€™re still such a good value.

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Glancing at my post after I clicked submit, I see that the autocorrect had changed Gaja to Gaza in a few places. Bad timing for that.

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@Seth_Low Iā€™m not super familiar with the Gaja lineup, but it may help if the you explain a bit what you have not liked about Italian wines in the past and what you did like about the Gaja bottle. My suspicion is you are a fan of oak flavors and a more polished style of wine - which is something Gaja is known for. Their wines from different regions, from different varietals, and at different price points (which will have some correlation to oak usage) will exhibit different characteristics.

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I have very little Gaja-specific experience- in fact Iā€™ve only had one of their wines, but it is relevant to your question. A few years back I had a 1997 Gaja Sito Moresco, which is a blend of Piemontese varieties (Nebbiolo and Barbera) and French (Cab Sauv and Merlot) produced from grapes grown in the Lagnhe. Iā€™ve read that it is meant for early drinking, but this 20+yr old bottle was fantastic. Canā€™t speak to anything other than this bottle, but Iā€™d highly recommend it.

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Based on my experience with older Gaja wines, I think virtually all of them have reached their peak at about 25 years of age. Some have been impressive, but fully resolved and not showing any real potential for further improvement; others have been fully mature and tertiary, borderline starting to go downhill soon.

While great, albeit somewhat modern and not that typical wines, I wouldnā€™t say they are ā€œon a very long and slow aging curveā€ - most Barolos and Barbarescos Iā€™ve tasted have been super youthful compared to Gaja wines of similar age. They definitely are not for early drinking and call for a decade or two of aging to show their best, but seeing how many traditionalist Barolo and Barbaresco producers make wines that age gracefully for twice or thrice as long, Iā€™d say Gaja is a producer making wines for medium-term cellaring.

Agree with your point on seeking a mature bottle - buying young Gaja now doesnā€™t really make sense if one doesnā€™t know how the wines drink with bottle age. I myself sort of like them, but not enough to seek them out. Iā€™d rather stick to the traditionalists I like.

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They canā€™t call it Barolo or Barbaresco because they add Barbera to the Nebbiolo.

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I take it you havenā€™t noticed how they have returned to making Barbaresco from 100% Nebbiolo for more than a decade now?

(And Barolo since the 2013 vintage)

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I believe Gaja backtracked on that, for most, if not now all their wines that were Barbaresco/Barolo, and went Langhe DOC, with them now being labelled again as Barbaresco and Barolo. Maybe they felt the move harmed the brand, maybe they came to the conclusion adding Barbera wasnā€™t better.

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You can also consider their wines from Sicily; a relatively new venture under the name Idda.

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Thanks @Chris_Seiber for all of the info. Also in response to @Jon_H . I do like a lot of wine with oak influence, but I also like a lot of wine without. The Gaja Brunello was certainly an oak influenced wine, but what really stood out to me was the concentration and depth of flavor. Iā€™ve read that the Brunello clone of Sangiovese is smaller with thicker skin, and I felt like I could picture that drinking it. Iā€™ve had several low end Brunelloā€™s ($50 or less) and all but one or two have disappointed me - I found them somewhat bland (compared to other wines in general, not just the Gaja). I have had similar disappointment with the majority of Chianti (/Clasico) I have drank, but I chalk some of that up to lack of research and not seeking out respected bottles.

All of this brings me back to my curiosity about the producer. Iā€™m inclined to seek out their less expensive Super Tuscans. If I come across a bottle of their Nebbiolo wine with some age Iā€™ll be sorely tempted, but I donā€™t think Iā€™m swayed to seek that out based on comments here - it is quite expensive.

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I agree with Chris that, as a premium brand, they are not especially over-priced. Are they worth it? That, as always, is a question that we can each only answer for ourselves. And yes, there are many many Sangiovese (i.e. Brunello, Chianti, etc.) options out there.

In terms of their Nebbiolo-based wines, there is much to explore, and worth it (to me). They make a handful of Barbarescos (or wines from that DOCG that donā€™t qualify for the name as others have mentioned). The ā€˜Classicoā€™ I.e. the bottling named ā€˜Gaja Barbarescoā€™ is the one I have had the most and is, to my understanding, representative of their style. It is excellent, and ages well. The ā€˜78 (admittedly a strong vintage) is still powering along, and well stored bottles have been spectacular. Right now the mid-90s and early 2000s are really good but Iā€™m in no hurry to drink mine.

The single vineyard wines (Costa Russi, Sori Tildin and Sori San Lorenzo) are pricier, have distinct personalities and are generally higher rated. I have only had a few of these, so canā€™t comment much about them.

There are also some Barolos (Conteisa, Sperss, some others), also very good to excellent. The Sperss can be fantastic, especially in good vintages but it is also pricey. So a lot to explore.

I mostly prefer very traditional Piemonte producers, but am happy to have a place in my cellar for Gaja. I see them as more traditional than modernist, but in many ways they defy simple classification, having a more than usual individual approach to wine making. To my caveman palate they are consistently excellently well made wines.

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You should of course explore the producer if you find their wines that exciting. And if your brand dedication is that strong, then Iā€™m sure Gaja and a local retailer will be very happy. Maybe find a retailer nearby that might do a tasting of there range?

On the other hand I think what most here are trying to say is that most here have reached the conclusion and found more favorably price alternatives that are at least as good. Hence youā€™ll probably not get that much feedback and excitement frankly, thatā€™s my gut feeling.

In a past time the quality and reliability of the producer was probably worthy the extra money, these days with the quality level and consistencyā€¦ not to me at least.

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Based on this comment, have you tried any of the La Spinetta wines in Barbaresco? I reckon they fit that description very well. Not my style of wine, but I respect that theyā€™ve set out to deliver just that, and succeeded in it. In a walkround tasting in the commune building in Barbaresco (many years ago), they very much stood out from all the other wines in that respect.

Now a small caveat - their wines arenā€™t especially cheap either, but as they donā€™t have the brand awareness of Gaja, arenā€™t as highly priced, and indeed last time I looked, it felt like theyā€™d kept price increases in check over the intervening decade+, such that the market had moved closer to them in pricing.

Like I said, style wise I prefer leaner nebbiolo wines than theyā€™re aiming for, but I do love their Moscatos (Biancospina and Bricco Quaglia), and Iā€™m very much tempted to try their Timorasso. Itā€™s useful as well to repeat that it is a personal preference, and I respect their skill.

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good call on la spinetta. i was going to suggest their tuscano line.

one q that ppl forgot to ask is what vintage the op tried and liked? vintages and wine age makes it a completely different experience.

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