Opening Keynote Speaker

Hailing from one of Italy’s most renowned wine families, Gaia Gaja, with her sister Rossana and her brother Giovanni, make up the fifth generation to own and manage Barbaresco’s renowned Gaja winery and the second generation to run Gaja Family Wine Estates, with Ca’ Marcandain Bolgheri and Pieve Santa Restituta in Montalcino. The Gaja family tradition began in 1859 when Giovanni Gaja founded the winery. Gaia and her siblings have worked at the Gaja Winery since they were children and been exposed to all aspects of the winemaking process. Born in 1979, Gaia officially joined the Gaja Winery in 2004. Gaia Gaja had a wine named in her honor (Gaia&Rey Chardonnay) even before she took her first steps. She has been traveling the globe as the winery’s International Brand Ambassador and she is involved in every aspect of grape-growing, 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 to studying ways to mitigate the effects of climate change in their vineyards in Piedmont and Tuscany.