Gaja Barbaresco 2017

Glorious aromas of flowers, crushed berries, strawberries and dried herbs. Some tea. Full-bodied and layered with a wonderfully curated, polished tannin structure and backbone. Give it three or four years to soften. Try after 2023.

A pretty, perfumed example of this cuvee, the 2017 Barbaresco offers lots more red fruits as well as spice, dried flowers, incense, and loamy soil. With more licorice and minerality emerging with time in the glass, it hits the palate with medium-bodied richness, an elegant texture, plenty of firm tannins, and a great finish. It doesn't get more textbook Nebbiolo than this. This classic beauty is going to benefit from 5-7 years of bottle age and have 2-3 decades of longevity.

The Gaja 2017 Barbaresco is nuanced and delicate with ever-expanding aromatic intensity that amply fills the balloon of your glass. The wine takes a little while to open fully, and it slowly releases forest berry, powdered licorice, toasted aniseed, spearmint, dried lavender and rosemary essence to build a lasting bouquet. The mouthfeel is streamlined and almost steely, with an extremely linear approach that adds to its length and persistency. The tannins are tucked into the wine's delicate fiber, but you do feel the extra textural firmness of the hot vintage nonetheless. As we have seen in past vintages, more definition is added by a pretty mineral note that is a common thread in these wines from Gaja. Production is 38,000 bottles.