2004 Barolo Sperss

Over the years I have had many memorable tastings at Gaja, including the unforgettable afternoon a while back when Angelo Gaja opened all of his 1989s and 1990s for a retrospective tasting of both vintages. The room seemed to fill up with the most exotic Nebbiolo perfume imaginable. This tasting of the 2004s comes pretty close to that level, as the wines showed exceptionally well. Angelo Gaja adds that the harvest took place between October 15 and 20, a full month later than 2003, and compares 2004 to 1964, a year in which quality and yields were both high. I have also included notes on Gaja's wines from Barbaresco, as they were part of this session.

Angelo Gaja's outstanding 2004s include these two splendid wines produced in the Barolo zone.

"Elegance whispers and opulence shouts," said Angelo Gaja, trying to describe the difference between Barbaresco and Barolo. "Opulence is easy to perceive, but the elegant character of Barbaresco is much more difficult to describe. " Gaja described 2004 as "a big crop, and especially large for growers who did not do a green harvest. " The 2005 harvest brought a much lower crop level, and Gaja picked all of his Barbaresco nebbiolo prior to the early October rains. (This fact was confirmed by some of his neighbors who were caught with a portion of their fruit hanging. ) IWC readers with long memories will recall that Gaja told me a few years back that he doubted he would make his cru bottlings from the hot 2003 harvest. In the end, he did offer these wines, but in very limited quantities. "We essentially conducted three harvests in 2003 [beginning on September 12th in Barbaresco], and we eventually kept just 38% to 45% of the fruit, depending on the site. " As always, my mini-marathon at Gaja went by too quickly, as I tasted a number of sensational bottlings. Production here has been a stable 350,000 bottles in recent years. Incidentally, in the '03, '04 and '05 vintages, Gaja added about 5% barbera to his crus from the Barbaresco area, with the Sperss getting 6% barbera and the Conteisa 8%.