Gaja’s Barbaresco comes from 14 vineyards across the commune, each vinified separately before blending, and 2023 has produced a particularly fragrant and finely detailed wine. There is lovely purity to the red-cherry and wild-strawberry fruit, with rose, blood orange, spice and a slightly ferrous, mineral note underneath. The palate is fresh and energetic, with fine-grained tannins that build gently rather than dominate. There is plenty tucked away here, but it is not forbidding, and the perfume and freshness of the 2023 make this surprisingly appealing young. It will, of course, age gracefully for a decade and considerably longer. Drink from 2027 to 2036. 13.5%
