2011 Gaja Sorì San Lorenzo Barbaresco

The 2011 Sorì San Lorenzo has tremendous depth, intensity and power. Black fruits, smoke, tar, licorice, savoury herbs and leather are some of the many notes that come from the glass. Regardless of the year, the personality of Sorì San Lorenzo always shines through, which is why this is one of the great locations in Barbaresco, Piemonte and Italy. In 2011, the contours are a little softer, giving the wine a level of approachability that is quite rare in Sorì San Lorenzos when the wines are young.

The history of the Gaja winery begins in 1859, the year in which Giovanni Gaja, a local grape grower in Barbaresco, Piedmont, founded a small winery under his own name. A generation later, it was Angelo, grandfather of the current owner, who continued making wine with the same determination as his father. He was supported in this by Clotilde Rey, whom he married in 1905. They taught their descendant Giovanni, named after his grandfather, that as a winemaker you should not make concessions; nothing should be at the expense of the quality of the wine. In 1961, Giovanni's son Angelo joined the family business. After graduating as an economist from the University of Turin and obtaining a diploma from the School of Viticulture & Oenology in Alba, the young Angelo had gone abroad for an internship at wineries in Bordeaux, Burgundy, along the Rin and in California. Full of fresh ideas, he had now returned to his native Piedmont.

When Angelo Gaja takes over his parents' company in 1970, he asks his old classmate and winemaker Guido Rivella to assist him. Together they implement a number of revolutionary changes for the region. For example, they reduce the yields per hectare by sometimes half the number of liters allowed, they experiment with vinification methods, the planting of new grape varieties - both red and white - and groundbreaking maturing techniques. The results are astonishing and Gaja conquers the world with his beautiful Barbarescos - the flagship of the company.

The Nebbiolo grapes for Gaja's Barbaresco traditionally came from different vineyards. Angelo's father, grandfather and his father's father before him had done the same. Although the young Angelo would not end this tradition, he launched a new line of Barbarescos from a single vineyard. These experimental single-vineyard wines attracted increasing interest.

As an advocate of a dynamic, purely quality-oriented wine culture, the brilliant winemaker decided in 1996 to completely break with the Italian system of designations of origin, which he considered too conservative and restrictive. Only his traditional Barbaresco is still marketed as a prestigious DOCG. He deliberately 'declassifies' all other red single-vineyard wines to regional Langhe Nebbiolo DOC. These are the Sorì San Lorenzo, the Sorì Tildìn and the Costa Russi.

Gaja' Barolo Sperss also underwent the same name change. With the exception of the Dagromis Barolo DOCG, Sito Moresco and Conteisa also bear the Langhe DOC designation. The label of his white top wines from Piemonte, the Rossj-Bass, Alteni di Brassica and Gaia & Rey also features Langhe DOC. After all, for Gaja, it is not the abbreviation that guarantees good quality of a wine, but the name of the producer.