The Italy Wine Project

Regions / Piedmont

DOCStill huntingModerate

Boca DOC

A tiny appellation on the volcanic porphyry of the Valsesia supervolcano that nearly died out in the 1990s and was revived almost single-handedly by Christoph Künzli at Le Piane. The wines are pale, taut and mineral: sour cherry, blood orange, dried flowers, iron and smoke, with sharp acid and fine, dusty tannin. They need age and taste closer to a Nebbiolo from the mountains than from the Langhe. Fewer than ten producers.

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Bottles I'm chasing

ProducerWinePriceBuy
Le Piane
Boca
The estate that saved the appellation; long-aged Nebbiolo-Vespolina with cherry, iron and dried rose, needs eight years.
$60 to $75Wine-Searcher
Podere ai Valloni
Boca 'Vigna Cristiana'
Organic estate that also survived the lean years, a leaner, more herbal Boca with sour cherry and smoke; a few US listings.
$35 to $45Wine-Searcher
Barbaglia
Boca
Small family estate in Cavallirio, more rustic and earthy, occasionally imported by Alto Piemonte specialists.
$35 to $50Wine-Searcher