GAJA BARBARESCO
PIEDMONT, ITALY 2023
WHY BUY: GAJA’s 96-point Barbaresco 2023 captures Nebbiolo at its most seductive: perfumed, expressive and built on finesse rather than power. From an exceptional 2023 vintage, it shows the kind of vivid aromatics, transparency and elegance collectors prize, with wild strawberry, roses and beautifully refined tannins. James Suckling called it “vibrant” and “full of harmony,” and with a “polished finish.” It’s a compelling reminder of that age-old adage: if Barolo is king, Barbaresco is queen. We’ve also secured two remarkable, age-worthy 2024 whites: Gaia & Rey, GAJA’s iconic Chardonnay, and Alteni di Brassica Sauvignon Blanc, now built from high-altitude Alta Langa fruit. Both drew extraordinary critical praise for their precision, freshness and elegance, making them wines collectors should not overlook.
WHAT THEY'RE SAYING: Among the three reds here, the only wine so far to be reviewed is the Barbaresco 2023, which sent Suckling to swooning — a “very classic and fresh” wine, he wrote, in a 96-point rave, with “vibrant wild strawberries,” “dusty” tannins and a finish “reminiscent of licorice and full of harmony.” The two white wines were met with the highest of accolades upon their release. “Knocks it out of the park with its extraordinary precision, clarity and freshness,’ The Wine Advocate wrote of the 95-point Alteni di Brassica, singling out a bouquet that is “beautifully lifted with vibrant citrus, preserved lemon and grapefruit” and a palate “razor-sharp and remarkably vibrant.” They were also smitten with the Gaia & Rey, calling it, in a 94+-point rave, “remarkably delicate and finely detailed, emphasizing elegance over power at this youthful stage,” with “subtle yeasty notes that remain beautifully integrated alongside citrus, orchard fruit and delicate mineral nuances.”
OUR TASTING NOTES: The Gaia & Rey opens with a paradox. You get apricot, mango, and honeyed white flowers on the nose, priming you for a kind of voluptuous indulgence, but then the palate keeps pulling you in the opposite direction: toward salinity, toward stone. We love this kind of tension, and especially the fact that the wine never settles into one path, as if it remains committed to complexity the entire way. A gem. The Alteni di Brassica is more direct and, you might say, open in its ambitions. Citrus and grapefruit arrive first, and with real precision, but underneath the bright fruit there’s a subtle, and essential, creaminess that keeps the wine from succumbing to austerity. The finish comes with a distinct note of minerality, a detail we seldom find (but love to unearth) in a Sauvignon Blanc. The Barbaresco 2023 might be Nebbiolo at its most accessible and crowd-pleasing. It abounds in vivid aromatics, of strawberry and eucalyptus, and then the tannins arrive, dusty and tinged with iron, taking you to and through the smooth, controlled finish. The Dagromis is built with fruit from two sites, and it drinks like it. You get La Morra's perfume and Serralunga's density, and we love that that duality takes you to the last sip. A wine of finesse and concentration. Finally, the Sito Moresco, a generous and expansive wine whose Merlot and Cabernet give it an ease and a roundness that make it hard to resist … and harder to put down.
THE STORY: Angelo Gaja has long been a figure of controversy in the wine world, and even within his own family he was an outsider and, maybe, for a time, a pariah, with his own father famously taking him to task. He broke from tradition, and with a flamboyant defiance: aging wines in French oak barriques, using temperature-controlled stainless steel tanks, issuing single-vineyard releases. And he was never shy about telling the world what he'd done. Italian winemakers regarded him with skepticism and sometimes outright hostility. Time has proven this fifth-generation Piedmontese winemaker to be less a provocateur than a prophet, and his methods are now standard practice across Italy. Gaia & Rey belongs to that same rebellious streak. Named for Angelo's daughter Gaia and his grandmother Clotilde Rey, it was the first Chardonnay ever planted in Piedmont and the first Italian white aged in barriques, sourced from two vineyards (one planted in Treiso, in 1979, the other in Serralunga d’Alba, in 1989): from the latter comes acidity and structure; from the former, perfume and balance.
FUN FACT: Gaja's neighbors remembered the 21-year-old Angelo as a restless, impatient rebel of a man who, according to a wonderful Wine Spectator profile, drove tractors on Barbaresco's narrow country roads as if "they were sports cars."
OUR GUARANTEE: We always buy and source directly from the estate, so rest assured: your wines will arrive in your hands with pristine provenance. Order your bottles and cases today!
*Offer NOT valid in-store. This offer is made pre-arrival, with wines estimated to be delivered to your preferred store in Winter 2026 (Dec.21st - Mar. 20th, 2027). With the supply chain issues that we are seeing globally, there may be some unforeseen delays which could affect the ETA. All sale prices are the lowest available at Total Wine & More and ONLY valid through Concierge Sales. No further discounts or coupons may be applied. Offer not valid in IL, KS, KY, MI, MO, NY, OK, or TN. The Alteni di Brassica is not available in IN, LA, NM, NV, or WI. This offer will expire on Thursday, September 10th, 2026.