Consisting of 85% Nebbiolo and 25% Vespolina, Le Piane’s Boca is dazzling and unwaveringly authentic in its composition. Emerging from the relatively warm 2015 vintage (often a helpful factor in these cooler, more northerly Nebbiolo climes, where full phenolic ripeness isn’t always easy to come by), the wine is rich, translucent, and remarkably vivid. This is a bottle that shows just how expressive (and cohesive) Nebbiolo and Vespolina can be in this place, and encapsulates all the reasons why wines from Alto Piemonte are so compelling. Sweet red cherry, rose petal, chalk, blood orange and bitter, amaro-esque herbs are front and center, but it is the wine’s superb textural polish that elevates it among some pretty lofty company among the great wines of Italy. The flavors are bold and pungent, but there is also striking depth to the fruit that ensures the savory notes aren’t overpowering. This is simply a magical bottle, with a welcome degree of approachability for a wine of such magnitude. A wine that is just entering its prime, and will continue to shine for the next decade at least.
At the turn of the 1990s, when Swiss merchant Christoph Keunzli first visited the Boca region in Piemonte’s northern, subalpine reaches, the appellation’s vines covered a mere 25 acres, less than 1% of what had existed there late into the 19th century. The focus of his visit was to taste the wines of Antonio Cerri, an 80-year-old vignaiolo, and one of the last remaining producers in the region. Given Cerri’s imminent retirement, Keunzli, together with a band of like-minded, wine-loving associates agreed to lease (and eventually purchase) Cerri’s parcels and continue his legacy. Such has been the success of his hard work, that Le Piane is now considered one of Italy’s most revered Nebbiolo estates and has single-handedly spawned a rebirth of production in the region.