V I N E E X P E C TAT I O N S
Face to face with Gaia
As charismatic and relentless as her father Angelo, fifth-generation Gaia Gaja of Gaja Wines is taking aim from Langhe to Sicily, placing ‘a volcano on a volcano’. By June Lee
A
ngelo Gaja was a driving force in Italian wines, helping to raise its overall status in the 1960s from cheap and cheerful to respected powerhouse. He presciently innovated earlier than his peers in Piemonte, introducing French-style barriques, tannin management, lower yields, and sheer marketing chutzpah as he expanded Gaja Wines to its current four estates around Italy. Although the 79-year-old patriarch did not accompany his eldest daughter Gaia Gaja on this particular trip to Singapore, the presence of ‘the King of Nebbiolo’ and the weight of his five decades of achievements are much felt.
A family raised on wine In a family where alternating generations named their sons either Angelo or Giovanni, the Gajas were good at hospitality. The original Giovanni owned a trattoria in the 1800s, and his son Angelo founded the winery in 1859 to supply wine alongside the food. The next Giovanni, Gaia’s grandfather, conceived the striking
124 epicurevietnam
red and black GAJA lettering on the bottle in 1937, while current scion Angelo innovated, expanded to Bolgheri and Tuscany, and opened new markets globally. All three of Angelo and wife Lucia’s children are now working together at the winery – Gaia, Rossana and Giovanni. There was a time during her teens when Gaia felt constricted by tiny Barbaresco, a town of 600-odd inhabitants. Today, her father quips that she lives closer to the winery than he does. She studied business administration at the University of Pavia, graduating in 2003 before working for one year in San Francisco where she first tasted dim sum and enjoyed a cosmopolitan lifestyle. But the hills called her back. “It’s not about the job or work,” she describes in her perfect English. “Langhe is beautiful, it’s who I am. When you talk about wine, you talk about the region – its culture, expression, taste, style and idea. Barbaresco the wine is not the louder one that catches your attention right away; it’s almost like flowing, aromatic, tasty water!”
