Gaja
On October 14, 2010, Gaia Gaya hosted a rare tasting of her wineries offerings at the Wine House. The Gaja Winery was founded by Giovanni Gaja in 1859 and has been owned and operated by four generations of the Gaja family. The daily operations are now partially overseen by Angelo’s daughter Gaia Gaja, seen here. The bottles ranged from the 2007 Gaja Ca Marcanda “Promis” SRP $45, 2007 Gaja Ca Marcanda “Magari” SRP $97, to the Piedmont region were the 2009 Gaja Rossj Bass SRP $95, the 2008 Gaja Sito Moresco SRP $265, 2005 Gaja Sperss SRP $333 and the 2005 Gaja Costa Russi SRP $414 were tasted. The most approachable of the group was the Promis. With an hour of time open to breathe, the nose was already reaching out of the glass with a rustic, dark leathery terroir note. Quite impressive for such a young offering. Although this wine can age up to 10 years it is meant to be opened at 3 to 4 years after bottling. As Gaia mentioned at the event, it is the bright fruit that I enjoy in this wines first 4 years, therefore I suggest not to age it. However, as the U.S. distributor representative said about the Piedmontese offerings….”how long do you have to age it”, as long as you have time the wine will accomodate and grow. He also mentioned that after 40 years these Piedmontese wines were engaging and alive, impressive for an Italian offering, no less for an offering of any region. While the larger wines did show hints of their future potential, these other wines (with the exception of the Rossj Bass, a Chardonnay based wine), needed time…10, 20, 30 years to really appreciate them .It is impressive considering the medium density of these wines that they are so ageable; most ageworthy Bordeaux tend to have a higher density. One reason for this maybe the good balance of fruit to acid, another might be the sea shell/calcium laden soil in which the vines grow.
The daily operations are now partially overseen by Angelo’s daughter Gaia Gaja, seen here.
picture courtesy of the Wine House, Los Angeles
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