TN: 1971 Gaja Barbaresco (Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barbaresco)

WINE TALK
1
  • 1971 Gaja Barbaresco - Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barbaresco (12/1/2009)
    DAY1:
    Opened, and the cork fell totally apart. It was a total mess with a lot of cork in the wine. After some work I managed to get most of it out. However, while doing this extra excercise, the aromas was playing with me… The wine expressed a wonderful aroma profile of roses and anis. After pouring a glass, it showed a great complexity of aromas, adding some cherries and autumn leaves as well. What better is there than to smell a perfect mature and complex wine. The mouthfeel followed up on the nose, and showed a complexity yet elegance and a freshness good mature wines from Piedmont is about. Nice acidity, very nice showing fruit (even fresh red berries kind of fruit), and very softened tannins. And the wine goes on for almost a minute.
    After a while the wine expresses some “deeper” elements like liquorish and leather, interwoven with the freshness of roses and cherry/red berries.

Day 2:
I kept 1/2 the bottle just korked and in the fridge for the next day, to see how this would stand the test of time. Being souble decanted the day before (due to kork and quite some sediments) I was a little scared of how this 38yo would manage such a rough treatment.
I was amazed! The aroma profile is a little more to the elegant style, but that is not necessarily a bad thing - just a touch different. More of the red berries, and less of the more “deeper” aromas. The mouthfeel is approximately as for day 1. The wonderful acidity provides a solid backbone for the fruit to play around. And there surely is fruit left in this bottle! :slight_smile:
I’ll save a little for day 3 as well, just to see how far this wine is actually willing to go… (94 pts.)

Posted from CellarTracker

2

Hi Oyvind,

It has been several years since I last tasted the '71 Gaja, but I recall the wine most fondly. Your notes made me wish I still had some in the cellar. I know I will get another round of invective in some circles for the next statement, but I would be so happy to see Gaja return to the fold of traditionally-styled wines in Piemonte and stop making such overly fussy and cellar-crafty wines. Historically, they are such an important estate in Barbaresco, and particularly with Bruno Giacosa getting on in years, it could be so meaningful to see them start to make wines again more tied to the soil, rather than to cellar technique. I know that plenty of people swear by the wines today, but for me, that last serious vintage at the estate was 1988, and afterwards the message was lost in the method. Glad to hear that your '71 was stellar- though how you could exercise the self-control to drink the wine over three days is beyond me- you are certainly a better man than I :slight_smile:

All the best,

John

3

Great note, Oyvind. Sounds like you had quite an experience with this wine. I believe that wine was made without barrique.

4

John: With regards to the stylistic change at Gaja; I surely hope at least the 90 Sperss wil show well, as I have a mag of this in the cellar. First 71 Barbaresco from Gaja for me, and it surely performed! :slight_smile:

Ken: Interesting! Would the ‘no barrique’ treatment explain the red berries I could still detect in the aroma profile? I was quite surprised by it - positively.