BOCA, the memory and the rebirth
We
have traveled to this corner of Piemonte, between the great lakes and the
It’s
November: the thermometer of our car marks -3 degrees below freezing at 10am,
while we cross the street that passes through the small
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Amongst rural communities and green
pastures we pass through small stone bridges, old farms, tool sheds and
the extremely thick forests alongside the road. Once, there use to be
thousands of hectares of vines in this area, hundreds of years back...and
if I hadn’t seen the aerial photos that show the |
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Today, the total
surface area dedicated to vines is approximately 30 hectares, camouflaged by the
landscape. One would never suspect that this tranquil corner of Piemonte was
once blessed in a golden age, before suffering like many appellations of
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The almost 40,000 hectares of vineyards became less than 700 in little over 80 years. After the 2nd world war, and through all the eighties, the minuscule strips of vineyards that survived where taken care of by the local seniors, not for fun, but for their own domestic consumption. Real “wineries” where no more than 3 or 4, who’s existence was constantly placed in question by the ever dropping popularity of their wine. Towards the middle of the eighties, the bottled Boca amounted to about 26,600 bottles...a number synonym of a dying appellation. As to the interest and aid of the press...it’s better we avoid the subject. |
THE REBIRTH
The institution of the DOC Boca, varied in 1969 in order to maintain a historical heritage more than to promote a commercial activity, didn’t resolve much. Despite the desperate and constant attempt to promote the consumption of this wine by remembering it as the “wine of the Popes”, was improbable. It was a situation that could only be saved by chance and destiny...and in 1995, that destiny materialized.
A couple of friends, both foreigners ironically enough; Christoph Kunzli (swiss and wine importer) and Alexander Trolf (Austrian and winemaker), where randomly passing through the area and ended up meeting one of the oldest seniors in town, Antonio Cerri. A salve to the land and a modestly shy man.
He was the owner of a piece of land called Le Piane, in which his children were not interested. Cerri, was 89 years old. He had been making wine for his family and his friends all his life, filling a barrel of 25 hectoliters a year. The vineyard, was planted with Nebbiolo (called SPANNA locally) and Vespolina in the early 1920’s. It was small, but beautiful. Facing the South and sheltered from the hill on which it was planted, it had been transformed into straight rows in 1969, without the death of one single vine. This is a land where vines are rugged, strong and arrogant, capable of withstanding anything, as much as their fruit and the wine it gives. Cerri also owned a small piece of land along the Traversagna, a few miles down, but he never used it to produce his Boca.
Following a tasting of this old winemaker’s wines, Christoph and Alexander were baffled...and easily convinced themselves to purchase the vineyards, the barrels (still full...) a nice archive of library vintages non-labelled and marked with chalk, and a small broke-down building right in the middle of the vineyards.
A few years after...history came back to life.
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Besides the details of this newly born winery, fact remains that a fortunately coincidental occurrence, coupled with the extraordinary enthusiasm of these two buyers, the surface area devoted to vines in this area has grown exponentially within 10 years. All the ancient wineries came back to life, producing their Boca DOC, with more and more money and energy invested in this obscure appellation. |
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Amongst the few glorious and courageous families that through the centuries, have believed in their land and continued to produce this wine, we find CONTI... with the cost of many families and wineries that gave up and dismantled. The young ones are coming back to reconnect with their ancient mother land and pay a tribute to an area that is not suited for mining rock destined for buildings and courtyards...but barrels and bottles of phenomenal terroir wine.
THE BOCA OF YESTERDAY AND TODAY
Since 1987, the entire area
has been classified as ‘great naturalistic interest zone’ by the Italian
government. The advancing of the forests has not only eaten up vineyards, but
farms and pastures as well, amongst which we could find the Piedmontese beef
farms. In other areas, we can see the man-made rock posts that were once used
for the ‘maggiorina’, which is the local vien training technique. The
mountain, about 900mt above sea level, is right under the Monte Rosa (one of
The massive mountain blocks
freezing winds coming down off the
These vineyards sometimes
reach 500mt above sea level, rooted into a solid rocky sub-layer once called
“giara nuda” (see photo below). With an extremely acidic PH, right under
the superficial soil, this rock is of a lively pink colour, with inserts of
quartz. This mineral is the primary source of most of
This terrain has an extremely important part in the choice of root-stock (Gravesac), amongst the most muscular and manly in the world, capable of finding its way through the rock and surviving in such an acidic condition. The area of the appellation spans across 5 comunes. Boca (the only one to be completely inside the DOC area...), Maggiora, Cavallirio, Prato, Sesia and Grignasco... all in the province of Novara and none more than 7km (4.3 miles) between each other. Along the borders of Boca and Maggiora we find the vines that we can definitely call “historical”; ‘Montalbano’, ‘Traversagna’, ‘Piane’, ‘Motto Grande’, ‘Cappelle’, ‘Castello’ and ‘Valloni’.
Other vineyards were abandoned and
their names live on only in the memories of the elders. The current legal
dictate of the Boca DOC, dates back to 1969. It states that Boca wine cannot
be made by 100% Nebbiolo. It’s minimum quantity goes from 45% to 70%. The
remaining percentage has to be made up by the most indigenous of varietals for
this area...Vespolina. A varietal that gives a strong spicy character to its
wines and can resist extremely rigid temperatures, acting as a sort of
insurance policy for bad vintages. A small percentage of Uva Rara (Bonarda)
can also be utilized in the blend. The maximum yield is measured in hectares
and the 90 tons are no joke, considered the extremely low density of the
vineyards. The total acidity of 6/1000, considering these factors, cannot be
seen as an issue and should indeed be defended without silly commercial
evaluations of the modern day wine market. It is indeed ‘acidity’, the
secret ingredient of these wines that makes Boca one of the easiest drinking
red wines in
FOOD PAIRING
The most logical theories of Boca, where the Vespolina varietal is heavily implemented, giving notes of pepper and intense flowers, are those that pair this wine with feathered game (pheasant, quail...). We can also have success with compact white meats like rabbit and goat. A Boca like this one would work very well with dishes that have a ‘sweet-tendency’, like legume soups. Cheese is a little harder...but we can try with a Bettelmatt or a Toma Piemontese. Conti, who winks at the Langhe area of Piemonte, can withstand dishes that are a little heavier...red meats with truffle, braised meats and roasts.
BOCA: THE VERTICAL TASTING AT CASTELLO CONTI
Here
you will find the official AIS (Italian Sommelier Association) vertical
tasting of the most historical winery of Boca...Castello Conti. Few wineries
in the entire
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BOCA 2003
Warm
ruby red with garnet hues, splendid varietal transparency ,day bright. The
nose is super-detailed, delicate and ethereal; notes of earth, cherries, herbs
and licorice. With a little time the wine releases aromas of forest
strawberries and ‘tomato water’. On the palate the alcohol supplies a
velvety smoothness, extremely succulent and with a phenomenal acidity. The
finish shows the typical dusty and subtle tannins of the warm vintage that dry
out the mouth. One of the most balanced “ready now” Boca, not as suitable
for aging but better for immediate enjoyment.
* BOCA 1996
Splendid
and youthful colour, still perfectly luminous. The nose is an encyclopedia of
Nebbiolo scents, with a baffling marine vein, almost swampy. The recall of
scents of sea water, salt, rubarb, flint grass, and humus is outstanding.
Great explosion on the palate, with magnificent and lively acidity. This wine,
in layman’s terms, goes all over the place. It’s rich and multi layered,
and finishes with full coherence with the nose. An almost entirely tertiary
scented silhouette but extremely unpredictable and personal. Amongst the best
vintages of this vertical tasting and highly recommended, unless...you have a
personal hatred for the above mentioned aromas.
* BOCA 1993
Concentrated
and warm colour, with almost brick orange hues. Compact and slightly confused
nose...with notes of smoke, cigar and charcoal. With time, marmalade of bing
cherries and dark chocolate start to seep out. Similar to the other vintages
of this vertical tasting, it plays on physical peformance... the mass, again,
is not shy and points towards a tannic presence that boldly surpasses that of
discrete nuances. ON the finish, the recall of leaves, humus and again,
chocolate....perfectly in tune with the “literature” of Nebbiolo wines
from this strange vintage. It is particularly dry on the finish.
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BOCA 1989
Bruin brown colour, still very alive and bright. Complete tertiary nose...not so refined as the other vintages tasted. We go from carob beans to thyme, blood iron and wild blackberry, tar and bergamot. Soft, complete in its evolution, the flavour profile reveals a slight shyness in the tannins and in the softly penetrating acidity. The summary of the mouth feel is far more austere than the nose would have led us to believe. The finish is extremely long. The harshness of the initial attack, typical of this vintage in Piemonte, transforms into a sumptuous finale, evidence this wine is at its peak and will stay here for a while. One of the most subjective vintage of this vertical tasting as well as once of the most baffling ones, with one of the most unique noses.
*
BOCA 1985
Superbly
transparent full garnet red with ruby hues that are both evident as
Castello
Conti...a
Written by Armando Castagno, translated and interpreted by Diego Meraviglia