Heady date with Gaja

AN evening spent at a wine dinner with Angelo Gaja is a rare luxury. At 75 years of age, Angelo continues to stride around the vineyards of Piedmont and Tuscany like a giant, setting the pace, breaking the rules, pushing the boundaries wherever he plants vines and altogether enjoying himself hugely. This wine dinner two evenings ago was exhilarating. I have known Angelo since 1985, and he has not changed.

The occasion was a Gaja Wine Dinner at Osteria Art restaurant. Angelo had not set foot in Singapore for at least two decades. (Normally it is his daughter Gaia who does the flag-flying visits.) The invitation to this Gaja Wine Dinner was like a royal command. Disobey at your peril!

Angelo was in his usual form, excited and speaking rapidly, devoting the introductory half-hour to the hottest subject in viticulture today: natural (organic) farming - something close to, but not 100 per cent biodynamic. The central goal of organic farming is to return the vineyard to its natural state, before Man cut down the trees and uprooted the plants and planted rows…