`I tasted the 2007s at the winery in November 2009 and then again in New York in January 2010. Both times they were spectacular. Stylistically the 2007s remind me of the 1997s in terms of their opulence.` - Antonio Galloni, Wine Advocate, February 2010

Charismatic, stylish, assertive, powerful and exclusive are all words that describe Angelo Gaja and his wines. He and they can also be charming and direct. I remember the first time I saw the Gaja pavilion at Vinitaly a few years ago. A huge black two storey cube dominated Piedmont`s hall with a narrow door that Nicholas Soames couldn`t have passed through even if approved by the clipboard wielding razor blonde and her cohort of guards. I wasn`t on that blonde`s list.

But I don`t harbour grudges and I remember the Gaja wines I was lucky to try in the 80s when they were still quite revolutionary and utterly outstanding in quality. Gaja`s attention to detail and his burning ambition to produce only the best still drive him relentlessly on. Having put Barbaresco on the map in the early seventies, he has now given up that prestigious DOCG so that he can add tiny amounts of Barbera to his Nebbiolo and his wines are now labelled Langhe. He can be as salty as Michel Chapoutier, describing an aborted collaboration with Robert Mondavi as like a mosquito in congress with an elephant; dangerous, and pleasurable for neither. (CW 21/09/10)