Gaja

1978 in Piedmont remains one of the most historic vintages in the world the world of fine, collectible wine. Even today, at thirty years of age, well-preserved bottles remain positively youthful, with plenty of life ahead of them. Yet virtually no one could have ever imagined the harvest would turn out as it eventually did. An irregular bud break that year acted as nature's version of a green harvest. The plants carried very little fruit into a summer that was especially cool, even by the standards of the time. Needless to say, early prospects were not encouraging. Then, miraculously, the region saw a month of intense, uninterrupted sunshine and heat beginning in early September that allowed the fruit to ripen perfectly. The hot daytime temperatures were balanced by cool nights, just the type of weather Nebbiolo thrives in. Because yields were low, all of the energy the plants received was channeled into a tiny amount of fruit. At harvest time the grapes were thick-skinned and contained relatively little juice. The wines showed intense color, expressive aromatics and ripe fruit, buffered by imposing tannins. Incredibly, these are qualities the wines still have today!

Usually tastings like these tend to focus on the icon wines of the vintage, which I suppose is natural. As much as I love drinking those bottles, I especially enjoyed this dinner as we had a few top-tier wines mixed in with lesser known bottlings. Everyone at the table was impressed by the strong showing of the wines, especially those we expected the least from. Readers who want to learn more about the vintage might like to take a look at Vintage Retrospective: The 1978 Barolos and Barbarescos, and A Memorable Evening of Barolo and Barbaresco: 1978 – 1990, as well as the vinous.com database, which contains recent notes on over thirty wines from the vintage. I would like to thank Marty Neschis for organizing this fun, informal tasting at Pepolino, a popular Manhattan restaurant.