The 1997 Gajas Revisited: Costa Russi, Sorì Tildìn, Sorì San Lorenzo

The merits and faults of the 1997 vintage have been debated endlessly.  Some people love the wines for their rich round fruit, others find the wines atypical and overly ripe.  My own feeling is that the vintage is simply uneven, and that there are exceptional wines that capture the best of the vintage and there are overripe, unbalanced wines that are by comparison much less complex.  Without a doubt the1997 Gaja wines from the Barbaresco zone are among the very best wines of the vintage.