A new DO for me in italy, called Boca and a winery called Le Piane

[TheEngineer]

It's been a while since I've tried a new varietal or a new region so I was really excited to try these! These wines were tried on the same day that I opened the 85 Groffier Clos de Beze and 87 Leflaive Batard Montrachet for this winemaker.

The region is called Boca and it is located about 45 miles north of Milan. It grows amongst other things Nebbiolo and Vesoplina. So it was a great chance to see how a more mountainous site slightly north of Barolo would impact the wines. All I can say is wow,...did it ever. Lovely stuff and more importantly interesting. The wine maker's name is Christoph Kunzli....yeah really italian...actually he is swiss. He is one of a few Swiss wine makers that I really like (the other obviously is Daniel Vollenweider ...right JC? )

If you search online, there is a really interesting story as to who he came about this site but I won't copy it here. The predominant impression is that these were not barolo's, not barbaresco's,...they were much more burgundian. Great structure, lithe, elegant, structured and thought provoking as only PN can but this was Nebbiolo. Alois Kracher visited his site once and gave the wines the best description for me. He noted that theses were really white wines with a red wine sweater around them. So true!!! One of his reds I noted immediately (as did the rest of the group), citrus/grapefruit peel, like in some whites as the dominant nose smell. and the acidity levels were all great. So suffice to say, I had a great time. I mention Daniel's name to him and he recognized it immediately, like an old friend. When I opened the Burgs, he truly enjoyed them, saying that he in fact tries to make his wines like that. Tasting the Nebbiolo's and the Burgs side by side did not seem out of place at all as his wines has the same philosophy.

Getting late so I'll put in TN's tomorrow.