2019 Sperss
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Tasting notes
The 2019 Barolo Sperss, which hails from a 12-hectare vineyard in one of Serralunga’s finest plots, is slightly more dense in color than the 2019 Conteisa. The nose is also more textured and fruit-driven, starting with similar notes of ripe dark cherries, blackberries and hints of licorice. The palate is complex and lovely, retaining fantastic acidity, tannins and structure that are initially present but quickly melt away with a freshness that carries throughout the finish. This is a fantastic wine built for years that will reward extended cellaring but should start providing great drinking pleasure in the next three years.
Critic scores
Average Score
Audrey Frick, jebdunnuck.com
James Suckling
More reviews and scores
This wine offers a delicate embroidery of earth, crushed rose, rusty nail and dark currant. The Gaja 2019 Barolo Sperss also has hints of smoke or camphor ash, and the entire wine is very polished and seamless with underripe dark fruit or sottobosco (undergrowth) that carries through to the end. This is one of the most powerful of Gaja's latest releases, yet the wine is also profoundly elegant.
A wine of stature and breeding, the 2019 Barolo Sperss is pure Serralunga power. Dark toned fruit, lavender, licorice, gravel and crushed rocks soar from the glass. There is plenty of the brooding intensity and tannic heft that are such signatures, but the 2019 is also wonderfully refined.
Very well integrated tannins that spread across the palate and give tension and form to the wine. Medium to full body. Chewy and juicy. Needs time to soften. Better after 2028.
About the producer
Gaja has been at the forefront of the Piedmont wine scene for many years and is Barbaresco’s most decorated producer. The winery has received a record number of Gambero Rosso Tre Bicchieri awards – the highest accolade from Italy’s leading wine publication.