Le Piane

History

Boca is one of the Alto Piemonte DOCs that came within a generation of disappearing entirely. By the late twentieth century, the zone had shed most of its vineyards to abandonment and emigration, a fate shared by several of its neighbors in the glacially carved hills north of Novara. Le Piane was the producer most responsible for arresting that decline. The estate was established by Christoph Künzli, a Swiss businessman, who purchased land in the area and began the painstaking work of identifying and restoring old-vine parcels that had survived the exodus. He was joined by the late Antonio Cerri, a local figure whose knowledge of the zone proved indispensable, and whose name and memory remain attached to the project's identity. The collaboration between an outsider with resources and a local with roots gave Le Piane its particular character: it is neither a hobby estate nor a family inheritance, but something more deliberate, built on recovery rather than continuity.

Over time Le Piane became the reference point for Boca, the producer other observers and newcomers to the zone measured themselves against. The estate's flagship wine shares its name with the property, and its releases have done more than any other single label to establish Boca's credibility among serious Italian wine drinkers.

Vineyards

The vineyards sit in the hills of the Novara DOC zone, with Boca at the upper end of what the appellation permits in terms of elevation and exposure. The soils here are the defining feature: volcanic in origin, with significant porphyry, highly acidic, well-drained, and low in organic matter. These are soils that stress vines productively rather than destructively, producing small berries with concentrated skins. The combination of altitude, acidic substrate, and the moderating influence of nearby Lake Maggiore gives the growing season a cooler, longer character than the Langhe, which is reflected in the wines' structure and aromatic profile.

Many of the vines are old, some significantly so, having survived because they were simply not worth the effort of uprooting during the region's depopulation. Le Piane works with Nebbiolo as the backbone of its reds, alongside Vespolina and Uva Rara, the traditional blending varieties of Alto Piemonte that contribute aromatics and softness respectively. Farming practices lean toward the careful and low-intervention end of the spectrum, consistent with the estate's emphasis on preserving what the old vines express, though full certified organic or biodynamic status is not something Le Piane has prominently publicized.

Winemaking

The cellar approach at Le Piane favors restraint and long aging over extraction. The Boca, the estate's most serious wine, spends an extended period in large oak casks rather than barriques, preserving the variety's structure without imposing heavy wood influence. The format is traditional for Alto Piemonte and suits the naturally high acidity and tannin of Nebbiolo grown on these volcanic soils. Fermentations are not rushed, and the wines are given time both on their skins and in barrel before release.

Beyond the Boca, Le Piane produces several other wines that map different aspects of the zone and its varieties. The Piane, which appears in multiple reviewed vintages, functions as a step below the Boca in terms of aging and selection. The Maggiorina is made from the traditional field-blend system of the area, using the pergola-trained, co-planted old vines in which Nebbiolo, Vespolina, Uva Rara, and other local varieties grow together and are harvested simultaneously. The Bianko, a white, and lighter red bottlings under the Colline Novaresi DOC round out a range that reads as genuinely place-specific rather than assembled for commercial convenience. The Mimmo, named in reference to Antonio Cerri, occupies a particular place within the lineup as a tribute bottling.