Gaja Barbaresco 2020

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. Drinking window: 2023-2045. Score – 95. (Clive Pursehouse, decanter.com, June 16, 2023)