2017 Gaja Chardonnay Gaia and Rey Langhe

~~The winery's historic Gaia & Rey is a wine that not only reshaped the legacy of the house itself, but also redefined Piedmont as one of the truly great winemaking regions of the world. Named after Lucia and Angelo Gaja's daughter, Gaia Gaja, and Angelo Gaja's grandmother Clotilde Rey (the family's great matriarch and one of its most forward-thinking visionaries), Gaia & Rey was first bottled in 1983 and was first released the following year.

The wine is made originally from 9 acres planted to Chardonnay in the township of Treiso. With this historic bottling, Angelo Gaja showed the world that exceptional white wines could be produced in the Langhe Hills, where red wines had been produced almost exclusively before. He also delivered to the world what is now considered one of the greatest white wines of Europe, a truly remarkable accomplishment in a country where red grapes have historically dominated the realm of fine wine. Today, some of the fruit is also sourced form growing sites in Serralunga. In good vintages, the aging potential for this wine can exceed 10, 15, and even 20 years.