Le Piane Boca: story of a great wine and a rebirth
Le Piane Boca is not only a great wine that we will now tell you about, but also a story of passion and territorial rebirth.
We are in Boca, a municipality in the province of Novara. Close to Ghemme and Gattinara, with vineyards reaching over 500 metres. Upper Piedmont, therefore. If you look at period photos, it is difficult to recognize this place. After the economic boom and the phylloxera epidemic, the landscape has completely changed, the vineyards have drastically reduced.
Before the arrival of the factories and the consequent exodus from the countryside, the slopes were all covered in vineyards. An incredible, very vast extension. Today it is unrecognizable: the woods have taken over and the acacia plants dominate unchallenged.
Having made this necessary "landscape" premise, the story begins.
In the early nineties, Christoph Kunzli, a Swiss wine merchant, met and became friends with Antonio Cerri, one of the last winemakers to produce Boca. At the time, there were only, unbelievably, ten hectares of vineyards in the area!
For Christoph, the visit to Boca was a shock! The beauty of the landscape, the tasting of Cerri's wines, the intuition to understand that wines of great depth and elegance could be made, that way of seeing the beauty of our country that sometimes only foreigners are able to grasp deeply, they convert it. From wine merchant to producer! In 1997, upon Cerri's death, he purchased his farm and the surrounding vineyards, giving life to what is now the Le Piane winery. A new life.
Infinite passion, obsessive care of the vineyard, use of willow instead of normal filaments to tie the vines (?!?!) have led him to produce wines celebrated by world critics and praised by enthusiasts.
Whoever drinks the wines of this cellar, especially the Boca, drinks a man.
The fame of Le Piane Boca is surprising if you consider that we are in the region of two "sacred monsters" that cannibalize everything: Barolo and Barbaresco.
Many experts, including us at Fine Taste as simple enthusiasts, agree that Boca is one of the best Piedmont and Italian wines ever and still "undervalued" in terms of price. In a blind tasting, a top-quality Boca shatters any claim to primacy of Barolo and Barbaresco. If it had the same international fame, it would cost at least double.
The experts also agree in considering it a wine which in terms of characteristics and elegance is reminiscent of the best Pinot noir from Burgundy...To the wise...a few words.
If you want to give yourself a gift, or give it to people dear to you, try this great nectar: its elegance, the softness of the tannins, the dosed spiciness, its citrus hints, the well-balanced acid vein and its incredible persistence aromatic will make you travel with your mind and palate.
A real Italian experience.
You can find the wines of the Le Piane winery here
If you want to visit the producer directly, take advantage of a wonderful tasting that you can purchase here
