1996 Darmagi

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.