95 Angelo Gaja, Barbaresco Costa Russi

As much as I love wine, it will be hard to get excited about another bottle after drinking Gaja for the first time. I've long said that no matter what books you read, what wines you drink, and what people you hang out with, nothing ever prepares you for a wine that sends chills down your spine. Talk all the RS, VA, or surmaturite you want, in the end a wine will give you goosebumps, if it can, whenever it wants to. You can't stop or predict it. And, so, I came close to tears drinking this, the greatest barbaresco I could ever imagine having. We won't even talk about the varietal nebbiolo itself, because this wine is a statement of far more than a mere grape. From the floral cherry lacquer aroma--its intensity deserves a new word appended to the Bible describing God's love everlasting--to the deep, fleshy, saturated raspberry flavors, this is the formula for either eternal peace or damnation. Sin or salvation. Frankly, it deserves a parade.