Acqua fresca, vino puro, fica stretta, cazzo duro - Gaja Tasting Impressions

[Serge Birbrair]

Yesterday we have attended wine tasting of Gaja wines, from 1964 'til 2001 with a surprising ringer. I'll be out all day and will post impressions when I get back What can I say in short?

Mi sono cacato sotto.

I now fully understand why people pay $400 a bottle.

[Birger Vejrum]

Lets here it Serge

400$ pr. bottle

[Henrik Koudahl]

I should be polite to my neighbour in Barbaresco, Excellent wines but I would never pay 400 USD for his wines (well depending on which wine you have paid 400 USD for - I would guess that the price is lower in Denmark)....

[Serge Birbrair]

I didn't pay $400...I bought 3 bottles of 2001 @ $330 each,
2 X Costa Russi
1 X Sori Tildin
and skipped 01 Sori San Lorenzo - the petroleum notes I have found were not appealing
and
Barbaresco - too harsh.

As for high price...I haven't bought those wines for myself, they are for my grandchildren, as they will outlive my kids. I say it after tasting 1950 Nebbiolo yesterday.

[Henrik Koudahl]

Whitout any research, Sege som danish prices for Gaja.

http://www.vinoteket.dk/producenter/.../gaja/gaja.htm

100USD is 620 DKK

[Serge Birbrair]

Henrik, but I am not in Denmark

[Birger Vejrum]

I haven't bought those wines for myself, they are for you and Birger, I will bring the bottles when I come to Denmark

You are an true gentleman

[Henrik Koudahl]

We could use them for Brasato.

[Serge Birbrair]

I thought you didn't like wines after travel shock...

[Serge Birbrair]

We could use them for Brasato.

Henrik, those wines were cutting thru BLUE CHEESE like a hot knofe thru butter. They require VERY sturdy meals for pairing.

[Birger Vejrum]

We could use them for Brasato.

Would be good with the meat

[Thomas]

So Serge, when are you going to describe the wines?

Did they taste Italian or New World?

[Serge Birbrair]

Thomas, I asked Sue to post her impressions, as I just stopped TN's in the moddle and indulged in pure enjoyment of the wines.

They weren't new world, they weren't Italian like I ever tasted before. !990's which impressed me the most just took my breath away.

Sue promissed to do impressions after she gets back from the store and meanwhile I make her life easier and just do list for her

[Serge Birbrair]

Reception: 1996 Gaja Chardonay Gaja & Ray

Flight One - "There are no great vintages when wines are that old, only the great bottles"
(- Andrew Lapsone, WineWatch Owner)

1) 1964 Gaja Barbaresco
Grapes sourced from all Gaja vineyards

2) Surprise

3) 1970 Gaja Barbaresco

4) 1974 Gaja Barbaresco Sori Tildin

Flight Two

5) 1978 Gaja Coasta Russi

6) 1978 Gaja Sori Tildin

7) 1978 Gaja Sori San Lorenzo

Flight Three which I can describe like...imagine you are a boxer (I once was) and in the third round you get an uppercaught, lose your breath and drop on the canvas for the 1,2,3,4,...,8,9 count before you regain your composure. That was the impression flight left on me.


8) 1990 Gaja Coasta Russi

9) 1990 Gaja Sori Tildin

10) 1990 Gaja Sori San Lorenzo

11) 1990 Gaja Barbaresco

12) 1990 Gaja Barolo Spress

13) 1990 Gaja Dramagi Cabernet Sauvignon

Flight Four - "love for sale"

14) 2001 Gaja Barbaresco

15) 2001 Gaja Coasta Russi

16) 2001 Gaja Sori Tildin

17) 2001 Gaja Sori San Lorenzo

[Susanne Feigum]

Reception: 1996 Gaja Chardonay Gaja & Ray
Buttery, viscous, and balanced, not too sweet, not bad for a Chardonnay, but not something I'd buy more of.

Flight One - "There are no great vintages when wines are that old, only the great bottles"
(- Andrew Lapsone, WineWatch Owner)

1) 1964 Gaja Barbaresco
First year that all grapes were sourced from Gaja vineyards. ***WOW...what a beauty! Fresh, with nice integrated tannins and fruit, fully alive and youthful in the mouth. Pale rim and lighter color with a hint of brick were the only indications of age.

2) Surprise
Dark purple color, slightest pale around the rim, layers of dark fruit flavors, berry/cherry/vanilla/spice on a concentrated base of raisin with slight green pepper undertones, a decidedly vigorous impression in the mouth and long finish left us confused but certain this was a YOUNG wine.

Big surprise! It was a 1954 Piedmont Vallana Spanna, Vino da Tavola (red table wine). Spanna is also known as Nebbiolo. What a gorgeous wine, and how amazing at 52 years old. I could swear it had baby fat still.

3) 1970 Gaja Barbaresco
Very assertive, strong minerals and acidity, and burned through an aromatic blue cheese like it was a double creme Brie. My least favorite of the group.

4) 1974 Gaja Barbaresco Sori Tildin
Not particularly spectacular on the first sip after the others in this flight but this wine came alive and danced on the table when paired with cheese and beef tartare. Nice acidity.

Flight Two

5) 1978 Gaja Coasta Russi
Earliest maturing of the Gaia vineyard...."Costi" means 'facing the sun'. Intense dried flower nose, violets, dark fruit, French oak, slight barrel sourness, powdery and soft in the mouth, just a gorgeous wine and my favorite of the flight.

6) 1978 Gaja Sori Tildin
Raisin, dried plum, cooked fruit flavors, zingy, unbalanced - not my favorite.

7) 1978 Gaja Sori San Lorenzo
Smallest production of any Gaia vineyards, a balanced and not that remarkable wine until shared with food....paired with lamb and cheese an aria of berry/cherry and warm dried flower flavors blossomed.

Flight Three which I can describe like...imagine you are a boxer (I once was) and in the third round you get an uppercut, lose your breath and drop on the canvas for the 1,2,3,4,...,8,9 count before you regain your composure. That was the impression flight left on me.

(****Susanne here....same impression of this flight....!)

8) 1990 Gaja Coasta Russi
I only wrote...."BABY FAT! TANNINS!"....and then was caught up in the pure enjoyment of it, so I'll quote the tasting note provided:
"The 1990 Costa Russi displays the tell-tale Nebbiolo character in its thick, rich, jammy, black-cherry-scented nose, complimented by wonderfully fragrant aromas of grilled vegetables and sweet vannilin from new oak. Deep and full-bodied with chewy, unctuous, concentrated flavors, this is another awesome Barbaresco...."
Amen!

9) 1990 Gaja Sori Tildin
My notes: "Too much, too fast, too tannic, too aciditic". My least favorite of this flight. Imagine my surprise when I read this Wine Spectator 1993 review:
"(100 pts) Absolutely ranks with the finest wines in the world. Spicy, rich and concentrated, a laser beam of berry, plum flvor arcing through the smooth-textured tannins, shooting off sparks of anise, toasty vanilla and tar. An electric wine with power, polish, subtlety and grace. ...".

I kept coming back to this wine, and in fact it was the last drop I finished and it was still too over the top for my taste.

10) 1990 Gaja Sori San Lorenzo
"(96 pts) Elegant, ripe and polished, positively glowing with violet-tinged blackberry, currant and black cherry aromas and flavors, many-layered, complex and utterly seductive, a seamless wine that just melts across the palate... WS, 1993).

WS said it as well as I can....just a lovely lovely wine, and my second favorite of this '90ies.

11) 1990 Gaja Barbaresco
Very enjoyable, very concentrated, spicy, breathtaking thoroughbred of a wine.

12) 1990 Gaja Barolo Spress
This particular wine always made me choke a little....the alcohol was quite forward with additional vapors of tar/asphalt and smoke, on top of a dense, layered, intensely rich purple wine. Roses on the nose. Too young to enjoy now....I suspect in another 20 years it will be stunning.

13) 1990 Gaja Dramagi Cabernet Sauvignon
Ick....green pepper flavors and oddly lightweight compared to the others in the flight.

Flight Four - "Love for Sale"

14) 2001 Gaja Barbaresco
Not ready yet....alarming disjointed off-notes, very deep purple, very concentrated,

15) 2001 Gaja Coasta Russi
This was one of my favorite wines of the night....WS 2005 says it all:
"(96 pts) A silky, beautiful wine, with plum and berry character. Full-bodied, with fine tannins and a caressing texture. Seductive, with layers of fruit and tannins...."
The finish was a good minute long.....the extended pleasure from this wine was orgasmic.

16) 2001 Gaja Sori Tildin
Shows a similar sense of breeding and class as the wine above. Almost as lovely....

17) 2001 Gaja Sori San Lorenzo
Berry, smoke and lots of cedar with a strong impression of minerals, and the longest finish I've almost ever experienced. A very saucy, impertinent wine, more like a Rachmaninoff than a Mozart....should be amazing in another 15 years.

[Susanne Feigum]

Hello Thomas!

These wines did not taste "New World" to me, despite the rich concentrated nature of most of them. The flavor profile was different, more violets, dried flowers, roses, more what I call raisin, in concentrated amounts, if that makes any sense.

We are not Italian wine experts in any sense of the word, so I can only compare the Gaia wines we tasted to what I know is "New World" from California and Spain.

Perhaps you have better ideas than I do about WHY I'm not perceiving "New World" wines, when concentration is one of the hallmarks of NW wines.

On the other hand, these wines bear little resemblance to "Old World" wines we've had from France and Italy either....

help...

[Susanne Feigum]

Perhaps the French would water down the Gaia concentration and get twice as much wine....and then it would taste "Old World".

[Thomas]

Well Susanne,

the only explanation I can come with is that the wines are somewhere between Old and New World. Violets and raisins would be an apt description of wines Italian, but concentration not normally, at least not the kind of concentration that is, to me, a particular signature of what goes on these days.

I suppose the tannins are what matters; without a good tannic structure concentration often proves (to these taste buds) to have a limited shelf life.

[Birger Vejrum]

Great notes Susanne, a great day for you and Serge.
I got som MG of the 1997 Sori San Lorenzo

[Serge Birbrair]

Great notes Susanne, a great day for you and Serge.
I got som MG of the 1997 Sori San Lorenzo

Let's meet in Copenhagen and finish it with good veal.....in 2017!
HOPEFULLY it will be ready by than.

[Birger Vejrum]

I was planning to open it in June 2006

[Serge Birbrair]

Birger, N O T on my watch!!! Save the babies!!!!! What is the penalty for infaticide in Denmark!?

[Birger Vejrum]

What is the penalty for infaticide in Denmark!?

8-12 years, but usally lifetime. The "worst" is the time in jail is the selfjustice among the other people in the jail.

Here is the programe for you and Susanne on the 3. of June:

Vine:
Crissante Alessandria, La Morra:
Rosso Monferrato ''Ruge'' 2003
Barolo ''Capalot'' 2001
Barolo ''Roggeri'' 2001

Azienda Sottimano, Neive:
Barbera d´Alba ''Pairolero'' 2004
Barbaresco ''Pajore'' 2003
Barbaresco ''Cotta'' 2003
Barbaresco ''Curra'' 2003
Barbaresco ''Fausoni'' 2003

Franco Mondo, San Marzano Oliveto:
Barbera d´Asti ''Vigna del Salice'' 2003
Barbera d´Asti ''Vigna delle Rose'' 2003

Azienda Paolo Monti, Monforte d´Alba:
Barbera d´Alba 2003
Barolo ''Bussia'' 2001

Menu:
Carpaccio con bresaola
Pasta
Involtini di melanzane con prosciutto e formaggio
Crostini di speck e formaggio di capra
Tortine di carciofi
Peperoni grigliati
Carciofi marinati
Pomodori secchi marinati
Formaggi italiani
Pane

[Serge Birbrair]

Birger, you forgot one of the most important ingridients:
ASPIRIN in the morning the next day!


I am going on a diet, you were right, certain prep work is NEEDED before our visit to Copenhagen!

[Birger Vejrum]

Birger, you forgot one of the most important ingridients:
ASPIRIN in the morning the next day!

No time for that Serge.

you will also visit

The house of H. C. Andersen