GAJA: A FAMILY PORTRAIT

Through undeniably audacious viticultural decisions, this fifth-generation winemaking dynasty elevated Barbaresco to fine-wine status. Now, the patriarch of Piedmont and his family are ushering in a new era for their business, with ambitious projects – and a healthy dose of compromise, as Tiziano Gaia discovers

- Tiziano Gaia

THE GAJAS AT A GLANCE

Angelo Gaja

Born 1940 in Alba, Piedmont Education Degree in Business Economics Career Joined the family wine business in 1961 Children Gaia, Rossana, Giovanni (1993)

Gaia Gaja

Born 1979 in Alba, Piedmont Education Degree in Business Administration, 2003 Career Joined the family business in 2004

Rossana Gaja

Born 1981 in Alba, Piedmont Education Degree in Psychology, 2008 Career Joined the family business in 2009

You have to believe.’ ‘It’s a question of faith.’ ‘There’s no room for doubt!’ Not a sermon from a Baptist preacher backed by a gospel choir, nor a motivational speech by a coach in a self-improvement seminar. Instead, winemaker Angelo Gaja is talking. Sitting with his daughters Gaia and Rossana in a soberly decorated room inside the Barbaresco castle, he is answering the question: ‘How do you become the best in your field?’

In the case of Gaja – still the most internationally acclaimed name in Italian wine – success stems from an unshakeable selfconfidence and an unwavering ambition, supported by the potential of the Langhe terroir. It was here, in Italy’s Piedmont region, that the Gaja story started more than a century and a half ago, with a tavern next to a river port.

Solid foundations