Winemaker Notes
The GAJA family purchased this vineyard from the parish of Alba and named it after San Lorenzo, the patron saint of Alba’s cathedral. The word “sori” means hilltop with southern exposure. Sourced from the GAJA winery’s top growing site, San Lorenzo, located just south of the village of Barbaresco in the famed cru Secondine.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
The nose of plums, strawberries and flowers come out vividly to almost perfection. It follows through to a full body with firm and tight tannins. Finish is full of hazelnuts and chocolate. Intense and long. Salty finish. The depth and intensity is amazing yet it's refined and so polished. Leaves me spellbound.
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Wine Enthusiast
ways a standout among Gaja’s five single-vineyard wines, Sorì San Lorenzo benefits from an excellent vintage to produce what will surely become a must-have bottle for collectors of Italian wine. There’s enormous beauty and elegance here, backed by power and intensity with ripe fruit, spice, toasted nut and cola. It also shows impressive linearity and focus.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2007 Langhe Sori San Lorenzo is perhaps the most massive, virile wine in this lineup, and accordingly it will require the most time. Tannic and austere at the outset, the wine gradually opens to reveal staggering richness and depth in its dark fruit. The wine turns more elegant in the glass, revealing a myriad of black fruit, tar, licorice, spices and scorched earth in a dazzling display of class and elegance. This is one for the ages.
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Wine Spectator
A rich, sumptuous red, tasting in turn like sweet spices, smoke, toast, blackberry, plum and licorice. These notes unravel in layers, matched to a dense texture and finely meshed tannins. Combining grace and power, this resonates on the finish, with cherry, spice and mineral notes.
Perched atop a steep hill in the Langhe sits the small village of Barbaresco, home of the GAJA winery. The story of the GAJA Winery can be traced to a singular, founding purpose: to produce original wines with a sense of place which reflect the tradition and culture of those who made it. This philosophy has inspired five generations of impeccable winemaking. It started over 150 years ago when Giovanni Gaja opened a small restaurant in Barbaresco, making wine to complement the food he served. In 1859, he founded the Gaja Winery, producing some of the first wine from Piedmont to be bottled and sold outside the region. Since that time, the winery has been shaped by each generation’s hand, notably that of Clotilde Rey, Angelo Gaja’s grandmother. Her passion for uncompromising quality influenced and informed Angelo Gaja. Through Angelo, these values have become the cornerstone of the GAJA philosophy and are engrained in every aspect of wine production
In 1961, Angelo Gaja began his mission of bringing this great winery to an even higher level. He was the first to use barriques, 225-liter French oak barrels. Under his direction, GAJA pioneered the production of single-vineyard designated wines and was the first to plant Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc varietals in Piedmont. He was also instrumental in elevating the native Nebbiolo grape to world-class esteem.
Angelo Gaja is joined by the fifth generation of the GAJA family – his daughters Gaia and Rossana and his son Giovanni. Together they continue to advance the winery’s legacy. To fully realize their vision, all GAJA wines are produced exclusively from grapes grown in estate-owned vineyards, including 250 acres in Piedmont’s Barbaresco and Barolo districts as well as estates in Pieve Santa Restituta (Montalcino) and Ca’Marcanda (Bolgheri). It is from these storied vineyards, and their terroir – the combination of soil, weather and vines that grow upon them, that GAJA wines reveal their true heart and soul.
Attracting the most glory, prestige and fame to the Piedmont region, Nebbiolo in all of its expressions—Barolo, Barbaresco, Roero, Ghemme and Gattinara—creates a complex wine, truly unique for its delicate qualities combined with strength and a great potential to improve over time.
But Nebbiolo isn’t all there is to red wine from Piedmont! Barbera is the most planted variety and historically most popular as a dependable, food-friendly, everyday wine.
Beyond these two, a surprising number of red varieties call Piedmont their home. Worth a try include Dolcetto for its bold concentration and aromas of spice cake. Other grapes to investigate include Freisa, Croatina, Brachetto, Grignolino and Pelaverga.