Tenute Guardasole "Boca" Piedmont, Italy 2021

FROM NEBBIA E LUCE:

THE WINE: From Alto-Piemonte in the north of Italy’s Piedmont region, this wine is a blend of Nebbiolo and Vespolina. Red berries and cherries, a blood orange twist, pink grapefruit but also medicinal herbs such as dandelion. Full-bodied, muscular, intense, juicy, tannic, the wine shows fabric and qualities that foreshadow excellent potential for aging.

THE PRODUCER: ‘Small is beautiful’ is a perfect summary of Marco Bui’s micro-winery in Boca DOC. He initially studied agriculture, which required a five am start to get to college. Later, he studied communications and marketing at university. After some years in a demanding marketing job in Milan, Marco decided to return to his village to help his parents run the family vegetable-and-fruit business and to tend their one hectare of vineyard. While he was doing this, the business acquired two more vineyards. The first, in 2010, was a Nebbiolo vineyard, created from a forest plot that he was able to clear and plant.

The second, in 2015, was a mixed planting of 70-year-old Vespolina, Nebbiolo and, unusually for these parts, Dolcetto. The three separate vineyards make three wines: grapes from the original family vineyard produce Boca DOC; the Nebbiolo vineyard goes into the wine called Pio Decimo; and the 70-year-old field blend goes into a wine called Virgilio. The last two are released as vino rosso because Marco does not like the reputation of the regional denomination, Colline Novaresi DOC. Since 2019, Marco has focused solely on wine.