Boasso Barbera d’Alba 2020

Why is this Wine so Yummy?

About Boasso

The Gabutti Winery was set up in the early 1970s by Franco Boasso, when the family started to make its own wine from the grapes grown in the family-owned vineyards. It was named after one of the most renowned areas of Barolo wine production. The Gabutti area was recognised early as a first-class sub-zone through the vineyard classification work of Renato Ratti.

The family-run company is now cared for by Franco’s sons Claudio and Ezio. They produce wine from 4.5 hectares of vineyard located within the Serralunga district, in the sub-zones of Gabutti, Meriame, Margheria, Lazzarito, Cerrati, and Le Tune.

Cru wines are made from the Gabutti, and Margheria vineyards with the first Cru Lazzarito coming soon.

In the Vineyard

The most renowned and valuable vineyards are planted with Nebbiolo vines aree used to produce Barolo.

The Gabutti vineyard covers 15,000 square metres and faces south-east. The soil is heavily calcareous and the steeply sloping terrain results in optimal insolation. Barolo Gabutti is only made from the best grapes grown in this vineyard. It’s made up of 10 pieces of Gabutti, immediately below Cappellano.

The 0.5 Ha Margheria vineyard is west-facing exposure, with a great microclimate, and soil type. It was replanted and producing it’s first wine in 2003. The vineyard is in two pieces immediately below Massolino’s and one surrounded by L. Pira, Gaja and Azelia.

In addition to these two vines, Barolo Serralunga, the company’s classic product, is made from grapes grown in neighbouring areas of mainly Lazzarito, Cerrati and Meriame.

The Barolo vineyards cover 1.5 Ha planted to 4,500 vines rotstocks per hectare. The plants are spaced at a distance of 2.4 x 0.8 metres from each other. The vines used are the Lampia clone ofe Nebbiolo grafted on 420 A type rootstocks. They are grown using the Guyot method, cane pruned. The rows are controur-planted and run from east to west.

In the Winery

The early days saw influence of the Barolo Boys, particularly De Grazia. Those days are now long gone with the family aiming for aiming for purity, authenticity and elegance, and value.

The grapes are hand-picked in perforated baskets, collecting only the ripened grapes and carefully picking over any damaged, unhealthy ones; immediately afterwards the grapes are crushed with a roller-destemmer that exerts a very gentle pressure on the berries.

The fermentation is carried out in steel tanks at a controlled temperature (maximum 27 degrees).  The wine is pumped over every 6 hours for the first 3-4 days, then twice a day. After 8-12 days macerating in contact with the skins, the younger wines, so Dolcetto-Barbera-Langhe-Nebbiolo, are racked off.

Our Barolo Serralunga is fermented differently, macerating for 15 days, while after these first 15 days the Barolo Gabutti and Barolo Margheria undergo another 15 days of submerged-cap maceration.
The malolactic fermentation takes place in steel, after which all the red wines, with the exception of Dolcetto, are aged in wood for variable amounts of time depending on the denominations.

Barbera d’Alba Superiore and Langhe Nebbiolo are aged in 20 hl barrels for 6-8 months, followed by a passage in steel before bottling.

Barolo Serralunga is aged for 30 months in 20-year-old 25 hl Slavonian oak barrels, Barolo Margheria for 36 months in 15-year old 20 hl Slavonian oak barrels, while 10-year-old 8-10 hl Slavonian oak barrels are used for Barolo Gabutti. After this period they are lastly aged in steel before bottling.

The wines obtained with a traditional methodology have a clear company identity, strongly linked to the land of which they are a faithful expression.

Where in the World is Boasso?

Boasso is in the Commune of Serralunga within the region of Barolo. The winery is located in Gabutti, adjacent to Capellano. Their holdings, shown in the map below include Gabutti, Margheria, and, Lazzarito amongst other Serralunga vineyards.