Conteisa
⏳ Drinking Window
2024 - 2045
🍽️ Food & Wine Pairings
Slow-cooked beef braised in red wine, hand-cut egg pasta with fresh white truffles, and mature, savory cheeses such as Castelmagno.
✨ Technical Specifications
Gaja's 'Conteisa' is a liquid chronicle of Piedmontese history, taking its name from the historic 'quarrel' (conteisa in local dialect) between the communes of La Morra and Barolo over the ownership of the prized Cerequio vineyard in the 12th century. Sourced from this legendary site, the wine showcases the softer, highly aromatic side of Nebbiolo, nurtured by the clay-and-silt-rich Tortonian soils of La Morra. For years, Angelo Gaja famously declassified this wine to Langhe DOC to allow the addition of a small percentage of Barbera for freshness, but it has since returned to its 100% Nebbiolo roots as a premier Barolo DOCG. The wine undergoes meticulous fermentation followed by aging in both barriques and traditional large oak casks, resulting in a masterpiece of refined tannins, bright red fruit, and complex notes of rose petals, licorice, and tar.
🍾 About the Producer
Established in 1859 by Giovanni Gaja in Barbaresco, Gaja is among the most influential dynasties in modern Italian viticulture. The estate's global stature was fundamentally transformed by fourth-generation icon Angelo Gaja, who introduced temperature-controlled fermentation, French barrique aging, green harvesting, and single-vineyard bottlings to Piedmont. Viticulture across the Langhe's classic calcareous marls focuses on biodiversity, soil vitality, and organic tenets tailored to climate adaptation, eschewing rigid certification schemes. Gaja is celebrated worldwide for its benchmark Nebbiolos—notably the flagship Barbaresco DOCG alongside historic single-vineyard crus Sorì San Lorenzo, Sorì Tildìn, and Costa Russi—and its Barolo cru Sperss. In addition to peerless expressions of Nebbiolo, the family revolutionized Piedmontese whites and Bordeaux blends through benchmark bottlings like Gaia & Rey Chardonnay, Rossj-Bass, and Darmagi. Today, the estate is led jointly by Angelo and his children Gaia, Rossana, and Giovanni.
🍇 Grapes
100% Nebbiolo