With Boca baking under the summer sun, Tenute Guardasole is braced to harvest at a date which would have once seemed inconceivable. As the clock ticks, Marco Bui considers the future.
The rain-sodden vintage of 2024 seems a distant memory compared to the parched conditions of the 2026 growing season so far. Even in Northern Piemonte the mercury has risen to alarming levels this summer.
“I think it might reach 36-37°C this afternoon,” says Marco, speaking to me from the relatively cool conditions of his home. “I don’t think we’ll have more than three or four episodes of rain this summer, like in 2022.”
It has been such a hot summer that once reliable local proverbs about wine-growing are no longer of use to viticulturists:
‘A San Lurens l’uva a tens’
‘A San Lorenzo l’uva si tinge’
‘On Saint Lawrence the grapes change colour’
San Lorenzo’s Feast Day on 10 August traditionally marks the point when the Nebbiolo begins to undergo veraison. However, this year it is well ahead of schedule.
“The Nebbiolo was completely blue and violet by last week, so we are 15-20 days ahead of a ‘traditional’ season.”
It also used to be the case that there was a degree of certainty at this point in the year when it came to securing a decent harvest, as evidenced by another saintly saying from this area:
‘A San Silan, l’uva ‘n man’
‘A San Silvano hai l’uva in mano’
‘On Saint Silvan you have the grapes in your hand’
San Silvano, patron saint of Romagnano Sesia, a town next to Boca, is celebrated on 10 July.
“Normally, if you get to 10 July with the grapes safe on the vine, you can be sure that nothing will go wrong until the harvest,” says Marco. “Now it is not guaranteed. This season we are well ahead of the normal status of the grapes’ maturation. Normally we harvest in the middle of October but this year it will probably be at the start of October or the end of September.”
When it has rained in Northern Italy in recent years, it has poured. Boca just about dodged the violent storms of last week. Such summer tempests can be truly devastating to vineyards, especially when the fruit is almost ready.
Marco does point out that ripening is not a linear process and that despite the heat of this summer the grapes may still hold out until later in the autumn.
“We have to wait for the phenolic maturation. Maybe we will pick in mid-October after all if the numbers from the analysis are right. In these conditions the sugar could be very, very high, but the other elements need more time. There is a risk of the alcohol exploding to 15% ABV. I don’t want to make wines like that.”
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Adjusting the blend
Reining in the structure of a finished wine in a hot vintage is a challenge winemakers across Europe are increasingly having to contend with. In the case of Boca DOC, they don’t just have to deal with Nebbiolo in a changing climate but with the other varieties that make up the required minority component of the blend – Uva Rara and/or Vespolina.
For Tenute Guardasole’s Boca, Vespolina is the variety playing second fiddle to the Nebbiolo, but Marco is very cautious about this supporting grape becoming too dominant, especially in a warm year.
“Vespolina’s tannins can be very dry and powerful when the season is very hot.”
To mitigate this, Marco has gradually reduced the percentage of Vespolina in his Boca – the rules of production permit a maximum of 30% and a minimum of 10% of either that or Uva Rara. 20% of Vespolina was the norm for Tenute Guardasole’s Boca until it was reduced to 15% for the 2022 vintage. For future bottlings, once the wine has finished its 30-or-so months of ageing, Marco is considering further lowering the percentage of Vespolina to around 10%.
“Using less Vespolina has allowed me to make a more elegant wine with less grip.”
Brand Boca
Although Marco has been working towards a lower proportion of Vespolina in his Boca, he does not believe that production rules should be changed to permit single-varietal wines.
“Boca should not be 100% Nebbiolo. In Piemonte you can find lots of wines like that already. Boca is a historical denomination for a blended wine. 100% Nebbiolo from Boca would also be competing with the rest of the Piemontese wine market.”
Tenute Guardasole’s monovarietal Nebbiolo, Pio Decimo, is labelled as a ‘Vino Rosso’.
What Marco does believe is that Boca needs change in order to compete with the other, more famous, fine wine regions of Piemonte. He is an advocate for Boca wine’s designation to be bumped up from Denominazione di Origine Controllata, a status it has held since 1969, to the more prestigious Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita.
“I worked in marketing, so I can see that the strength of Boca is its history. Alto Piemonte was more respected than Langhe in the past. Boca, Gattinara and Ghemme were stronger than Barolo and Barbaresco in the 1960s,” he argues.
But support for ‘Boca DOCG’ is far from unanimous, partly because of a perception that it would entail greater restrictions on how the wines of the appellation can be produced.
“We have not worked together to promote a Boca brand image. I’m not alone, but there aren’t many of us at the moment who think that it would be better for Boca to become a DOCG,” Marco explains. “There isn’t a need for different rules between the DOC and DOCG, Boca already has lots of rules because it’s a historical denomination. All that has to change is the idea and the will of producers in the region to become a DOCG. Next time we producers all get together for a meeting I will try to persuade them!”
As those who have experience of Italian wine politics will tell you, the recipe for regulatory reform involves equal measures of paperwork and patience.
“For sure obtaining it would be a long process. There’s lots of bureaucracy, so it would take no less than five or six years,” suggests Marco. “I think if we started on this 10 years ago then Boca would be a stronger denomination than it is today.”
Moving mountains
Marco shows an admirable devotion to his native Boca, though he needs his escapes from the vineyard. An enthusiastic outdoorsman who swapped an advertising career in Milan for life back in Alto Piemonte, his chosen means of relaxation are hiking, skiing and mountaineering, all very much vertical pursuits.
“My great passion is to climb and go up. It is the reason why I can’t stay in an office in Milan,” he shares, revealing that this year, for his 50th birthday, his gift to himself will be a ‘baita’, a small mountain hut.
As tempting as it may be to disappear up into the Alps and spend his days roaming from peak to peak, away from the stresses which come with each vintage, Marco has no plans to stop making the descent back down to his vines.
“I will be a wine producer until I don’t have the strength to do it. I don’t know if my daughter will continue with Tenute Guardasole, but my idea is to keep doing what I like – being in the vineyard and making wine. I’m a romantic, I like the story of my terroir, I like the tradition. I am nostalgic.”