In 2019, the growing season in Langhe was characterized by a stable, classic pattern. The days were warm and the nights were cool, ensuring a long and even ripening period that lasted until October. Thanks to these conditions, Gaja's "Sperss" wine, produced in Serralunga d'Alba, boasts a deep color, firm tannins, and a structure characteristic of Serralunga. This will be a powerful Barolo, intended more for long-term aging than for immediate consumption.
Robert Parker (98)
This wine offers a delicate embroidery of earth, crushed rose, rusty nail and dark currant. The Gaja 2019 Barolo Sperss also has hints of smoke or camphor ash, and the entire wine is very polished and seamless with underripe dark fruit or sottobosco (undergrowth) that carries through to the end. This is one of the most powerful of Gaja's latest releases, yet the wine is also profoundly elegant.
James Suckling (96)
Very well integrated tannins that spread across the palate and give tension and form to the wine. Medium to full body. Chewy and juicy.
Jancis Robinson (17.50)
Serralunga d’Alba. Vineyard blend of Marenca and Rivette.
Lustrous mid ruby. Compact and pretty much closed on the nose, with saline, minerally notes. With aeration, a deep layer of spice and liquorice wood reveals itself. Complex but still pretty much locked. Elegant palate weight combined with bags of fine, gravelly tannins and crunchy, youthful red-berry fruit. Long and precise and cool. Finesse and power. (WS)
Vinous (98)
A wine of stature and breeding, the 2019 Barolo Sperss is pure Serralunga power. Dark toned fruit, lavender, licorice, gravel and crushed rocks soar from the glass. There is plenty of the brooding intensity and tannic heft that are such signatures, but the 2019 is also wonderfully refined.
Jeb Dunnuck (99)
Number 21 in the Top 100 from 2023
The 2019 Barolo Sperss is rich with dark mineral earth, black cherry, and Earl Grey tea. Long and mouthwatering, it has a powerful structure while retaining finesse. It is fantastically balanced, with gripping tannins, fresh acidity, and notes of forested earth and ripe red berries. A wine for the long haul, this is another great and noble wine to drink over the coming three decades.The Gaja estate was founded in 1859, although it was Angelo Gaja, the fourth-generation winemaker of this Barbaresco estate, who made the innovations that would help shape the region as it is today. The entire family shares responsibilities across their estates. Great attention is paid to their practice of sustainable and regenerative farming. I met with Giovanni Gaja for this tasting at the estate in Barbaresco and also made a visit to the nearby region of the Alta Langa, only 16 kilometers away from the original estate. The latest major development for the estate in Piedmont is a brand new winery exclusively dedicated to their still white wine production in Alta Langa, designed by the Italian architect Giovanni Bo, who the family have worked with since 1982. The vineyards of Gaia & Rey and Brassica will remain the same, but fermentation and production will move to this location. There is greater biodiversity in Alta Langa compared to Barolo and Barbaresco, with 60% of the land being undeveloped land and hazelnut farms, and only 40% vineyards, compared to Barbaresco, which has 80% of the land under vine. For this reason, as well as the higher elevations, this area is seeing an influx of attention across the region. In 2015, they purchased 30 hectares of land that had been planted to hazelnut trees, at an average elevation of 650 meters, which they have converted to vineyard and indigenous plants of the area. The winery, which I toured in March of 2023, will be completed in time to begin production for this year’s harvest. Cascina Langa, the historical name for the property, has soils that are rich in sand and tuff, which they believe will be well-suited for adding structure for the white varietals of Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc. They also planted several other experimental vines to learn what will work well in the region.
BOW (8.75)
