THE PRODUCER
The Gaja estate was founded in 1859 and is thus the oldest house in the
denomination. Fourth generation, Angelo Gaja, who took the reins in 1961 at the
age of 21, is widely known as being at the forefront of innovation in the
region, and has a huge share of the reason that the region has become so famous,
the wines so respected, and especially as a serious fine wine and investment
object. Gaja was a pioneer of single vineyard bottlings, in the region, his
‘sori’ bottlings first appearing in 1970 from the 1967 vintage. He was amongst
the first to age his Nebbiolo in French oak barriques in the late 1970s, around
which time he was also the first to plant Cabernet Sauvignon in his vineyards.

He is also famous for being one of the first to green harvest in the vineyard
(i.e., sacrificing some of the grape yield in order to concentrate what is left
on the vine) and for short pruning, also in an effort to lower yields. Famously,
in 1996, Gaja pulled his single vineyard Barbarescos out of the Barbaresco DOCG,
and his single vineyard Barolo Sperrs out of the Barolo DOCG, and put all of
them into the Langhe DOC - it was widely considered at the time that this was
done in an effort to have more winemaking/grape blending freedom, seeing as
Langhe DOC regulations may have been considered more loose, than those of Barolo
and Barbaresco DOCG.

However, in 2013, all the single vineyard wines were returned to the Barbaresco
and Barolo DOCGs and are thus today all made from 100% Nebbiolo as the
regulations stipulate. Gaja is also known for being at the forefront of using
less chemicals in the vineyard, and constantly searching for ways of making the
vineyard eco system more self-sustainable. Two such vineyards are “Sperss” and
“Conteisa”.

THE WINE
Fruit for Gaja’s Sperrs cuvee is sourced from the family’s property in
Serralunga d’Alba. Fermentation and maceration last for around 3 weeks and is
followed by ageing for 24 months in oak barrels. Sperss is dark fruited,
brooding, and powerful, with incredible tobacco and leather complexity, a full
and stern body with muscular tannins and length.


INFORMATION
Type:RedVintage:2015Country:ItalyRegion:Piedmont
Sub region:BaroloGrape:100%  Nebbiolo
Style:Savory and ClassicSweetness:DryABV:14.5%Drinking window:2022 - 2050Size:
750mlFood match:Lamb


CRITICS SCORES
We choose our wines based on a range of criteria(seehow we choose our wines)of
which critic scores is justone. Rather than simply highlight the best score to
promote a wine, our average critic score is calculated from the scores provided
by several respected wine critics, who we follow for specific regions. They do
not represent all critic scores and, wherever possible, we try and give more
weight to more recent reviews. Where appropriate we consider market-based scores
like Global Wine Score or Wine Searcher Average scores.

As a rule, we look to offer wines that achieve a92/100average critic score or
better and frankly a lot of very good wines simply don’t make the cut. As a
high-end provider we want to reflect that positioning in the quality of wines we
offer. Such wines are only a tiny fraction of those generally on offer in the
market. We believe that an average score is a more conservative and
representative approach, but it is still subjective and only offered as a guide
to our customers, who will (and should) do their own research. We will add
individual critic scores to our website in the future.