2020 Angelo Gaja - Barbaresco DOCG

Decanter.com – 95 pts – CP: *Depth, structure and complexity are the hallmarks of Nebbiolo, and this wine certainly delivers but also offers a juicy helping of fresh berry fruits. It is blended from 14 different sites throughout the Barbaresco DOCG with an average of 40 years of vine age. Barbaresco is the wine that launched the Gaja legacy in 1859. Aromatics of spiced orange peel, an assertive bouquet of dried purple florals and a touch of dried mint. The palate balances the savoury character of baking chocolate and fennel seed with an abundance of ripe red berry fruits—notes of strawberry and balsamic, raspberries and fresh mint and dried tobacco. There is ample structure, but a stylistic transition in more recent vintages of Barbaresco makes this wine immediately drinkable.* - 06/2023

Falstaff Magazin – 95 pts – OK, SS: *Aufhellendes Rubingranat, funkelt. Überaus duftiger Ansatz in der Nase nach Pfirsich und Granatapfel, dann frische Zwetschke, wirkt überaus frisch. Am Gaumen viel saftige Frucht, öffnet sich mit elegantem, geschliffenem Tannin, feine Himbeernote, hallt sehr lange nach.* - 10/2023

JancisRobinson.com – 17+/20pts – WS: *Aged for 12 months in French tonneaux and barriques, 10% new oak, followed by 12 months in large Gamba and Stockinger casks of Slavonian oak. ‘In 2008 we began with the gradual exchange of the large oak casks that were already used by my grandfather.’ Now their oldest oak cask is 15 years old. This wine was bottled at the beginning of June and has just been released. Youthful, just mid ruby. Expressive, cool, sweetly perfumed red-fruit nose with a whiff of spicy new oak. Elegant, fresh raspberry fruit and with lively acidity and crunchy tannins that stick to the palate. Vibrant.* - 06/2023

Vinous.com – 94 pts – AG: *The 2020 Barbaresco is a very young wine. In most years, the Gaja Barbaresco is quite showy, but the 2020 clearly needs time. There's terrific fruit intensity, but the aromatics aren't quite expressive. These days the Gaja wines have less oak imprint, which pushes the fruit forward, but also yields a wine that is a bit more austere in the early going.* - 09/2023