Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The E. Pira e Figli - Chiara Boschis 2018 Barolo Cannubi is a lovely wine with a classic playlist of true Nebbiolo aromas. This certified organic wine exhibits wild berry, rose, dried lilac and an earthy touch of white truffle. However, the floral aromas and the lifted fruit are the protagonists in this balanced expression. Chiara farms less than one hectare (just over 6,000 square meters) in the celebrated Cannubi MGA with ancient calcareous clay soils from the Miocene era. Production is limited to 3,594 bottles. This is one of the best wines of the vintage.
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Wine Spectator
Elegant and seamless for such a young red, exhibiting rose, cherry, mint, menthol and mineral flavors. Firm yet balanced and long, with echoes of cherry and menthol on the saline finish. Best from 2025 through 2042.
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James Suckling
Deep and seductive on the nose and palate with crushed red berries and a soft mineral base. Full-bodied with very silky tannins that are already melded into the wine. More linear, drinkable quality to this in 2018. From organically grown grapes. Compact and delicious even now, but better with another year in bottle.
Responsible for some of the most elegant and age-worthy wines in the world, Nebbiolo, named for the ubiquitous autumnal fog (called nebbia in Italian), is the star variety of northern Italy’s Piedmont region. Grown throughout the area, as well as in the neighboring Valle d’Aosta and Valtellina, it reaches its highest potential in the Piedmontese villages of Barolo, Barbaresco and Roero. Outside of Italy, growers are still very much in the experimentation stage but some success has been achieved in parts of California. Somm Secret—If you’re new to Nebbiolo, start with a charming, wallet-friendly, early-drinking Langhe Nebbiolo or Nebbiolo d'Alba.
The center of the production of the world’s most exclusive and age-worthy red wines made from Nebbiolo, the Barolo wine region includes five core townships: La Morra, Monforte d’Alba, Serralunga d’Alba, Castiglione Falletto and the Barolo village itself, as well as a few outlying villages. The landscape of Barolo, characterized by prominent and castle-topped hills, is full of history and romance centered on the Nebbiolo grape. Its wines, with the signature “tar and roses” aromas, have a deceptively light garnet color but full presence on the palate and plenty of tannins and acidity. In a well-made Barolo wine, one can expect to find complexity and good evolution with notes of, for example, strawberry, cherry, plum, leather, truffle, anise, fresh and dried herbs, tobacco and violets.
There are two predominant soil types here, which distinguish Barolo from the lesser surrounding areas. Compact and fertile Tortonian sandy marls define the vineyards farthest west and at higher elevations. Typically the Barolo wines coming from this side, from La Morra and Barolo, can be approachable relatively early on in their evolution and represent the “feminine” side of Barolo, often closer in style to Barbaresco with elegant perfume and fresh fruit.
On the eastern side of the Barolo wine region, Helvetian soils of compressed sandstone and chalks are less fertile, producing wines with intense body, power and structured tannins. This more “masculine” style comes from Monforte d’Alba and Serralunga d’Alba. The township of Castiglione Falletto covers a spine with both soil types.
The best Barolo wines need 10-15 years before they are ready to drink, and can further age for several decades.