Gaja
Gaja is a world famous winery located in Piedmont, in the north-western part of Italy. Founded in 1859 by Giovanni Gaja in the small town of Barbaresco, the estate started with just 2 hectares of vineyards, planted in the hills near Barbaresco. Each generation has expanded the estate. However Angelo Gaja (fifth generation), who became the owner in 1970 (but had already started working in the vineyards since 1961) achieved the most recent success.
Gaja introduced the Barbaresco from a single vineyard "Sorí San Lorenzo" (1967), "Sorí Tildin" (1970) and "Costa Russi" (1978), all produced from grapes Nebbiolo. In 1978 he decided to replant the vineyard "Darmagi" in Barbaresco with Cabernet Sauvignon to obtain international recognition for the Piedmont region and to demonstrate that Italy in general was capable of producing world-class wines.
In 1988, Angelo Gaia bought 28 hectares of land in the nearby town of Barolo and began producing another single vineyard wine "Sperrs", which was first released in 1992. He also decided to plant grapes Chardonnay Treiso (Gaia & Rey) and Sauvignon blanc (Alteni di Brassica) in Barbaresco. Further expansions lead to Tuscany with acquisitions in Brunello di Montalcino (Pieve Santa Restituta, in 1994) and Bolgheri (Ca'Marcanda, in 1996).
Angelo Gaja decided to declassify his Barolo and Barbaresco wines (with the exception of one wine) to DOC Langhe, in order to avoid the strict regulations of the stricter DOCG Barbaresco and Barolo in 1996. However, since 2013 Barbaresco wines are again classified as DOCG Barbaresco.
Today Gaja produces over 40 different red and white wines, including Eau de Vie (Grappa). The wines that command the highest prices (and ratings) are single vineyard Barbaresco wines. The best vintages are: 1989, 1990, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2007, 2010, 2011 and 2013.