Gaja Conteisa 2018
-
Suckling
James -
Parker
Robert - Decanter
-
Spectator
Wine
Product Details
Your Rating
Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
Intense and enveloping notes, blood orange, plum, and mineral aromas. In the mouth, voluminous with sweet tannins, finishing with an inviting licorice note.
Professional Ratings
-
James Suckling
The fresh and just ripe strawberry aromas really come through here, together with some licorice and floral highlights. Medium to full body with fine, focused tannins that are vertical and bring your palate down through the wine. A solid and beautiful wine for the vintage. Try after 2025.
-
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The Gaja 2018 Barolo Conteisa shows very nicely, with ripe aromas of plum, strawberry, grilled herb and chamomile flower. Give the wine time and it shows more herbal sensations and even a blast of mint that is characteristic of Cerequio, where the grapes are harvested. This wine was first labeled Barolo in 2013, and before that it was a Langhe red. The Gaja family has five hectares in this cru, and Gaia Gaja describes the lovely perfumes given off by wild mint that rubs off on your legs when you walk through the vineyard rows. This site has compact clay soils that are prone to erosion during heavy rains. These conditions give natural concentration and firmness to the wine, although compared to other years, this wine is perhaps less structured.
-
Decanter
The grapes for Gaja's Conteisa all come from Cerequio. 'Just 5,000 bottles this year, while in the best vintages we could reach 10,000,' said Gaia Gaja. The nose is highlighted by kirsch, dried cherry and earthy tones with subtle mint and peony. Cherry and strawberry dominate the fruit-driven palate, with a touch of coffee. The wine is full, with ripe tannins of great quality and moderate acidity.
-
Wine Spectator
Supple and elegant, this red offers cherry, strawberry, licorice, tar and spice flavors married to a firm yet pliable structure. Tightens up on the finish, remaining balanced and long overall.
Other Vintages
2019-
Dunnuck
Jeb - Vinous
-
Parker
Robert -
Enthusiast
Wine -
Spectator
Wine -
Suckling
James
-
Dunnuck
Jeb -
Suckling
James -
Parker
Robert - Decanter
-
Spectator
Wine -
Enthusiast
Wine
-
Suckling
James -
Dunnuck
Jeb -
Parker
Robert -
Spectator
Wine -
Enthusiast
Wine
-
Suckling
James -
Enthusiast
Wine -
Parker
Robert -
Spectator
Wine
-
Suckling
James -
Dunnuck
Jeb -
Parker
Robert -
Enthusiast
Wine
-
Suckling
James -
Parker
Robert -
Spectator
Wine
-
Parker
Robert -
Enthusiast
Wine -
Suckling
James -
Spectator
Wine
-
Parker
Robert -
Suckling
James -
Spectator
Wine
-
Suckling
James -
Parker
Robert -
Wine Cellar
International
-
Enthusiast
Wine -
Parker
Robert -
Spectator
Wine
-
Parker
Robert -
Spectator
Wine -
Spirits
Wine &
-
Spectator
Wine -
Parker
Robert
-
Enthusiast
Wine -
Spectator
Wine -
Parker
Robert
-
Parker
Robert -
Spectator
Wine
-
Spectator
Wine -
Parker
Robert
-
Parker
Robert -
Spectator
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
In 1961, Angelo Gaja began his mission of bringing this great winery to an even higher level. He was the first to use barriques, 225-liter French oak barrels. Under his direction, GAJA pioneered the production of single-vineyard designated wines and was the first to plant Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc varietals in Piedmont. He was also instrumental in elevating the native Nebbiolo grape to world-class esteem.
Angelo Gaja is joined by the fifth generation of the GAJA family – his daughters Gaia and Rossana and his son Giovanni. Together they continue to advance the winery’s legacy. To fully realize their vision, all GAJA wines are produced exclusively from grapes grown in estate-owned vineyards, including 250 acres in Piedmont’s Barbaresco and Barolo districts as well as estates in Pieve Santa Restituta (Montalcino) and Ca’Marcanda (Bolgheri). It is from these storied vineyards, and their terroir – the combination of soil, weather and vines that grow upon them, that GAJA wines reveal their true heart and soul.
Responsible for some of the most elegant and age-worthy wines in the world, Nebbiolo, named for the ubiquitous autumnal fog (called nebbia in Italian), is the star variety of northern Italy’s Piedmont region. Grown throughout the area, as well as in the neighboring Valle d’Aosta and Valtellina, it reaches its highest potential in the Piedmontese villages of Barolo, Barbaresco and Roero. Outside of Italy, growers are still very much in the experimentation stage but some success has been achieved in parts of California. Somm Secret—If you’re new to Nebbiolo, start with a charming, wallet-friendly, early-drinking Langhe Nebbiolo or Nebbiolo d'Alba.
The center of the production of the world’s most exclusive and age-worthy red wines made from Nebbiolo, the Barolo wine region includes five core townships: La Morra, Monforte d’Alba, Serralunga d’Alba, Castiglione Falletto and the Barolo village itself, as well as a few outlying villages. The landscape of Barolo, characterized by prominent and castle-topped hills, is full of history and romance centered on the Nebbiolo grape. Its wines, with the signature “tar and roses” aromas, have a deceptively light garnet color but full presence on the palate and plenty of tannins and acidity. In a well-made Barolo wine, one can expect to find complexity and good evolution with notes of, for example, strawberry, cherry, plum, leather, truffle, anise, fresh and dried herbs, tobacco and violets.
There are two predominant soil types here, which distinguish Barolo from the lesser surrounding areas. Compact and fertile Tortonian sandy marls define the vineyards farthest west and at higher elevations. Typically the Barolo wines coming from this side, from La Morra and Barolo, can be approachable relatively early on in their evolution and represent the “feminine” side of Barolo, often closer in style to Barbaresco with elegant perfume and fresh fruit.
On the eastern side of the Barolo wine region, Helvetian soils of compressed sandstone and chalks are less fertile, producing wines with intense body, power and structured tannins. This more “masculine” style comes from Monforte d’Alba and Serralunga d’Alba. The township of Castiglione Falletto covers a spine with both soil types.
The best Barolo wines need 10-15 years before they are ready to drink, and can further age for several decades.