1998 Gaia & Rey

Angelo Gaja spent a half hour explaining his controversial decision to bottle his Barbaresco (and Barolo) crus by their proprietary names rather than using the appellation. The history behind his decision dates back to the late 1960s, he began. Ever since Giacosa and Ratti and Prunotto began producing vineyard-designated wines (influenced by the wine writer Luigi Veronelli, who in turn was inspired by the French concept of individual site character at lower yield), hundreds of ex-grape growers in Barbaresco and Barolo have become producers. Over time, all have created their own pyramids of quality and prices. "The consumer has come to believe that the single-vineyard wines of each estate represented its highest quality, and began to devalue 'ordinary' or 'regular' Barbaresco," explained Gaja. "In a Catholic-Communist country like Italy, we have a culture of suspicion," Gaja theorized, "and now when people hear the word Barbaresco, they always associate it with 'straight' or 'ordinary' Barbaresco. But my three single-vineyard Barbarescos are niche wines; together they represent just 25% of my Barbaresco production. Now I will have only one wine labelled Barbaresco," said Gaja, adding that this wine will grow more rapidly in price in the future than the crus. "Now it will be the Barbaresco of Gaja, not Gaja straight Barbaresco." x000D x000D But what about Barolo, I asked Gaja: Surely the name Barolo hasn't been devalued in the same way-"and you don't offer a 'basic' Barolo anyway." "I couldn't handle my Barolo crus any differently," he replied.x000D x000D Gaja says he never wanted to use the vino da tavola appellation. "That was a Tuscan concept, and in any event I don't think we can make a better wine in the Piedmont than Barbaresco or Barolo." The Langhe appellation was introduced with the '93 vintage, and thus Gaja made the commercial decision to label his wines with their brand names (as opposed to a geographic name) and the generic designation Langhe Nebbiolo. But he waited until the '96, '97 and '98 vintages to make the step official on his labels, since the high quality of these vintages would make it apparent to his customers that he was not declassifying his wines.x000D x000D Using the Langhe Nebbiolo appellation also offers Gaja the flexibility to include up to 15% of other red varieties, whereas wine labelled Barbaresco or Barolo must be 100% nebbiolo. Although Gaja was reportedly the leader of a group of winemakers who failed to convince the authorities to allow the use of a small percentage of other grape varieties in Barbaresco, he told me he has no immediate plans to use other varieties, although he does have barbera planted in several of his cru vineyards. Two to five percent of barbera could be used, for example, to lift the acidity of a wine, says Gaja. "There's a belief here that cabernet can make everything better, even coffee," Gaja told me, but then added that he would be more likely to use indigenous red varieties than international ones like cabernet or merlot.x000D x000D Gaja describes the '96s as rigorous wines that are not immediately approachable, while the '97s are dense, rich and relatively easy to drink. The '98s may not be as dense as '97 or rigorous as '96, but the vintage combines the characteristics of the two earlier years and is at the same lofty quality level, he adds. Nineteen ninety-nine, says Gaja, yielded a large crop and varying quality: "Some wines will be very concentrated, but 75% will be characterized more by their elegance." Yields in Gaja's crus are always among the lowest in the region: around 30 hectoliters per hectare in '96 and '98, and between 25 and 30 in '97.