“…this is a pleasure to drink right now, but its best days are still ahead of it…”
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My hopes were higher than my expectations for the big game, but in the end, there was only disappointment to be had either way. There’s been a lot of “armchair quarterbacking” going on around the Motor City since Sunday evening’s NFC Championship game, but all I will say is that it was a game the Detroit Lions could have very well won, which makes the outcome even crappier.
We did have some good wine to drink, however. I wanted something special for such an important game, and again, I figured a 20-year old wine should do the trick, especially one from a winery no less iconic than Gaja, located in Piedmont in northwestern Italy. It was just the “regular” Gaja Barbaresco, and not one of the even more prestigious (not to mention pricey) single vineyard selections, but it did the trick all right, with one timely qualification.
2004 Gaja Barbaresco, 14% alc.: This exudes a lovely bouquet right from the get-go, all floral perfume, smoky leather and mahogany. Flavors echo and expand nicely with impressive concentration, but at 20 years of age, this still seems like a young wine, even with 30 minutes in a decanter before pouring. The secondary characteristics have established themselves and settled in quite nicely indeed; it’s full bodied and well-built, with the tannic backbone to age for at least another 5 years, no sweat. Don’t get me wrong, this is a great wine and a pleasure to drink right now, but its best days are still ahead of it, perhaps well ahead. Find this wine
Perched atop a steep hill in the Langhe sits the small village of Barbaresco, home of the GAJA winery. The story of the GAJA Winery can be traced to a singular, founding purpose: to produce original wines with a sense of place which reflect the tradition and culture of those who made it. This philosophy has inspired five generations of impeccable winemaking. It started over 150 years ago when Giovanni Gaja opened a small restaurant in Barbaresco, making wine to complement the food he served. In 1859, he founded the Gaja Winery, producing some of the first wine from Piedmont to be bottled and sold outside the region. Since that time, the winery has been shaped by each generation’s hand, notably that of Clotilde Rey, Angelo Gaja’s grandmother. Her passion for uncompromising quality influenced and informed Angelo Gaja. Through Angelo, these values have become the cornerstone of the GAJA philosophy and are engrained in every aspect of wine production.
Imported by Terlato Wines International, Lake Bluff, IL
There you have it. The Detroit Lions and their fans are going to have to wait until next year to hopefully have another chance at a championship. Fans of Gaja Barbaresco will have to wait a little longer for the 2004 to mature and reach its full potential, if this bottle is any indication. If you already have some of this in your cellar, good for you. If you don’t, and you want some, it’s going to cost you more than $200 per bottle. So it goes.
Reporting from Day-twah,
Bastardo
