Sperss
⏳ Drinking Window
2026 - 2048
🍽️ Food & Wine Pairings
Slow-braised beef in red wine, roasted wild game such as venison or wild boar, and rich pasta dishes topped with shaved white truffles.
✨ Technical Specifications
Gaja's 'Sperss' is one of the most legendary bottlings in Piedmont, its name translating to 'nostalgia' in the local dialect—a poignant tribute to Giovanni Gaja's lifelong dream of owning a vineyard in the prized commune of Serralunga d'Alba. For decades, the Gaja family purchased grapes from this area, but it wasn't until 1988 that Angelo Gaja acquired the historic Marenca-Rivette estate, turning that nostalgic dream into reality. Crafted from Nebbiolo, Sperss reflects the formidable, masculine terroir of Serralunga. The soils, rich in limestone and clay, yield a wine of immense structure, deep dark fruit, tar, licorice, and iron-like minerality. Famously declassified by Angelo Gaja to Langhe DOC in the late 1990s to maintain blending freedom, it triumphantly returned to its rightful Barolo DOCG status with the 2013 vintage, celebrating 100% Nebbiolo aged meticulously in both barriques and traditional large oak casks.
🍾 About the Producer
Founded in 1859 by Giovanni Gaja in the village of Barbaresco, Piedmont, Gaja has evolved into one of the world's most celebrated and visionary wine estates. The house was catapulted to international acclaim under the transformative stewardship of Angelo Gaja, who revolutionized Italian viticulture by pioneering green harvesting, temperature-controlled fermentations, French barrique aging, and single-vineyard bottlings. Today, alongside legendary Nebbiolo expressions such as Barbaresco, Sorì San Lorenzo, and Sperss, the family crafts benchmark whites like Gaia & Rey, fine grappas, and acclaimed wines from their Tuscan estates in Bolgheri and Montalcino. Uncompromising in quality and innovation while deeply rooted in their heritage, the Gaja family produces intensely expressive, structured, and age-worthy masterpieces that define modern Italian fine wine.
🍇 Grape Varieties
100% Nebbiolo