Gaja's 2003 Barbaresco may well challenge its bigger siblings as the most successful of these new releases. Made in a style that combines expressive aromatics the ripeness of the vintage and classic structure it is an awesome effort. Though it offers plenty of super-ripe fruit and notable concentration it never comes across as being heavy and displays exceptional overall balance. Gaja's Barbaresco rarely shows this well so early in the game and my guess is that my score may end up being conservative. "Oddly enough it was our worst-exposed parcels that performed best in 2003 although I suppose that makes sense given that these plots were more protected from the sun. We did a very severe ion in the cellar and in 2003 we bottled a small amount of Barbaresco roughly 30000 bottles as compared to our normal amount of 70000 bottles. We did a similarly stringent ion with our single-vineyard wines" adds Gaja. Anticipated maturity: 2009-2021.