1999 Barbaresco, Gaja, Piedmont
Dry, Red, Still
Italy
Improving/Ready 2007 – 2018 
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Tasting Note
This wine demonstrates the hallmarks of Gaja's finely-honed wine-making technique, offering voluptuous textures, an expansive palate of well-defined fruit and an opulent structure which promises great ageing potential. One is initially struck by the incredible bouquet: incense and ripe red and black fruits. The palate is majestic, offering great presence yet fine tannins which are beautifully masked. A wine of restrained power and elegance, new oak cloaked by sumptuous flavours. Pervasive and wide-ranging, this is a very fine wine.
Region Details
Piedmont is a powerhouse for quality wine in Italy, with a number of producers, traditional and forward-thinking, leading the charge. Both barolo and barbaresco have been transformed in the last thirty years, so that the old definitions no longer apply. Nebbiolo remains the noble grape but viticulture, vinification - and pricing - have changed irrevocably. Modern wines are elegant, rich and fruit-focused, with a fine veneer of new oak; even traditional wines are less woody and display sleeker tannins than in the days of yore, and the caricature of pruney, blood-coloured and astringent barolo, or of soft-centred and overstretched barbaresco is now consigned to history. The region delivers a multitude of wines from other grapes too, white, red, sweet and sparkling, and a near-unbroken run of good and great vintages since the mid-nineties have added to the appeal.
Vintage Notes
1999 - Italy
A third successive hot vintage, but one which produced few if any problems in the vineyards. In Tuscany, grapes were harvested with excellent sugar levels, leading to well-structured yet supple and balanced wines. Not the blockbuster of 1997, but an undoubtedly fine year. Piemonte experienced a cooler August, but the fine conditions of September permitted the grapes to ripen well, producing wines which were opulent and ripe. The wines are less exuberant than the two preceding years, but exhibit a natural harmony and balance. The lesser cuvées have evolved relatively quickly, but at the top level there is sufficient structure to permit good cellar potential.
Grape Variety
The most noble of Piedmont's red grapes where it is used alone in the production of both barolo and barbaresco. A late ripening variety, it is prone to poor autumnal weather; but in the right conditions it soars to heights of complexity, offering both tannic structure and delicacy. When young it exhibits an array of aromas and flavours, with violets, plum and even tar present, and has the potential to age magnificently. Always notably crisp, usually high in alcohol, it needs sensitive handling to avoid astringency. For this reason it has rarely translated successfully to other growing regions.
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