The Gaja family tradition has never stopped since 1859 when Giovanni Gaja founded the winery. Gaia, together with her sister Rossana and her brother Giovanni is the fifth generation to own and manage Barbaresco’s renowned Gaja winery and the second generation to run Gaja Family Wine Estates, with Ca’ Marcanda in Bolgheri and Pieve Santa Restituta in Montalcino.

Gaia, Rossana, and Giovanni have worked at the Gaja Winery since they were children, their parents always included them in their discussions about wine, and from an early age, they welcomed and encouraged their interests in all aspects of the winemaking process. No titles are needed within the family, the 3 siblings are all complementary, each one with a specific responsibility and all involved in every aspect of the winery.

Gaia Gaja had a wine named in her honor (Gaia&Rey Chardonnay) even before she took her first steps. Born in 1979, she officially joined the Gaja Winery in 2004. She has been traveling the globe as the winery’s International Brand Ambassador and she is involved in every aspect of the grape-growing, and winemaking process as well as the wine business.

With their reputation as innovators in Italy, the Gajas in the last 15 years have particularly focused their attention on studying ways to mitigate the effects of climate change in their vineyards in Piedmont and Tuscany.

Gaia Gaja, through her recent interview with WINWSA, talks about how her winery counters climate change and her advice for women in the wine business.

Q: How many years have you been in the wine & spirits business?

GG: I started to work with my family at the winery in 2004.

Q: What makes you devote yourself to the w&s sector?

GG: The idea that a multigenerational effort could continue with me and my siblings. The love I have for my family and the idea that I could bring forward the dreams of my grandparents and projects of my parents. I than very soon realized that our wineries are my dream and project too.

Q: What are the main transformations & changes in the industry you have experienced so far?

GG: In the last 20 years wine has become more popular all over the world. Also the knowledge of consumers has been continuously growing. I also perceive a stronger sensibility toward sustainable farming a bit all over the world, both from growers and consumers.

Q: What did you enjoy most in your career? The biggest challenge you have encountered as a woman in the industry? What drives you to keep going?

GG: Fine wine is a reservoir of cultures, society, humanity, geography, history, and philosophy that intrigues a broad variety of different people. Most of all what I love of wine is that it brings us together.
I never felt that being a woman is a challenge, but I must say that I am in a privileged situation as I own my winery and I have parents that have always been disruptors both in winemaking and in the way they raised us, always refusing in every sense the most banal cliché.

Q: What are the main distinguishing merits / qualities in women attributing to career success?

GG: I really make no difference between man and woman. Women in my region have always been very hard working in the vineyards, contributed to raise the family, to wisely advise their husbands, to guard the savings.

Q: Any Advice to your peers?

GG: Believe in yourself. Don’t waste time in gossip, social media, comfort zone and negative news, instead focus on the things you love, and you are good at, cultivate your passions and skills, gain knowledge.

Q: 2022 sees a large scale of heat wave (canicule) and it’s becoming a global phenomenon. This is not the first time we witnessed or lived through extreme weathers. What kind of extreme weather happened or is happening in your region? What measure has the chateau taken to cope with that?

GG: The weather is becoming more unpredictable and extreme, that’s why our work in the vineyards is becoming more challenging and unpredictable. The goal of our viticulture is to increase the resilience of vines, their capability of overcoming the challenges of the weather. The only way to fight climate change for us is to bust, attract, cultivate biodiversity on our vineyards because the most alive is the soil, the most flexible it is to the extreme weather situations and therefore the most comfortable and helpful becomes to the vines. We collaborate with botanists, geneticists, geologists, entomologists, bee keepers and wasp experts to understand better their dynamics and equilibrium.

Q: Is global warming or extreme weather affecting the viticulture and wine styles? What are the initiatives that wine industry shall adopt to combat global warming and extreme weather conditions?

GG: What is most in danger is the elegance of wine, the fleeting, delicate, nuanced perfumes, the delicate supple tannins and fresh acidities. Every detail of vineyard management has to be re-approaches in order to avoid further manipulations in the cellar, therefor to preserved freshness and moderate alcohol potential in wines is fundamental.

Q: Who will you recommend to us for interview as the next WWS figure?

GG: Funny enough you can range between some of the most important wineries on the planet, all runed by woman.
To name few:
Albiera, Alessia and Allegra Antinori from Antinori
Priscilla Incisa della Rocchetta from Sassicaia
Silvia Altare from Elio Altare Barolo
Chiara Boschis from Barolo
Maggie Henríquez, CEO of Krug Champagne
Lalou Bize LeRoy from LerRoy in Burgundy
Corinne Mentzelopoulos from Ch.Margaux in Bordeaux
Katharina Prüm from J.J. Prum in Mosel

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