1996 Barbaresco Sorì San Lorenzo

Gaja was THE estate in Piedmont back in 1996 when Angelo Gaja and Guido Rivella made these wines. Since then, quality has gone up meaningfully at many estates throughout Piedmont. Driven by an unrelenting quest for perfection, Gaja took his family's estate to the top. These wines show that all the hype that surrounded Gaja during this era was more than justified. Quite simply, the Gaja 1996s are stellar. Today, twenty-plus years later, Gaja doesn't seem to have lost any of the energy he had back then. If anything, he appears to be re-energized by the presence of his daughters Gaia and Rossana at the winery, while son Giovanni is learning about the sales and distribution part of the business in the US. The 1996s are the first vintage Gaja made outside of the formal Barbaresco and Barolo designations for his five crus: Costa Russi, Sorì Tildìn, Sorì San Lorenzo, Conteisa and Sperss. The wines all had a small amount of Barbera blended in, ostensibly to aid with acidity. Interestingly, the Gaja children have brought all five wines back into their historic denominations while pursuing a more sustainable approach to farming and, especially in recent years, improving quality in a meaningful way.

After being told by numerous Barolo producers that '96 and '97 resembled '89 and '90, respectively, I was intrigued by Angelo Gaja assertion that '97 was rather like '89. Gaja, whose wines are quite high in tannins (including substantial oak tannins) but are rarely tough, clearly prefers a lower acid, more opulent, supple vintage like '97, which may be better suited to his winemaking style. But he admits that 1996 will be widely compared with 1990 because it so good in important growing regions across Europe. But 1997 is the most approachable of the last three vintages, as well as the highest in extract, says Gaja. "1995 has more nervous, aggressive tannins, like '82 or '78, and will need time. The wines will be at their best in 10 to 15 years." In style, 1996 is somewhere between '97 and '95, he adds. x000D x000D x000D Total maceration here lasts from 20 to 24 days, with the temperature highest during the first four or five days, when there is a lot of pumping over of the must. The temperature is then brought down to about 18 degrees Celsius for the rest of the fermentation and further maceration, and there is no further pumping over. Gaja used a relatively high 40% new oak for the '96s, but between 20% and 30% for '97 and '95.