E.Pira di Chiara Boschis, Piedmont
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E.Pira di Chiara Boschis, Piedmont,
Ready, but will improve,
Darker cherry and brambly in character, with plum ice-cream, the 2011 Cannubi has great power of fruit on the palate. It shares the E.Pira trait of being cool, with a certain hint of Italian summer herbs, full-bodied and tannic on the finish.
E.Pira was one of Barolo’s most historical producers until the Boschis family bought it in 1980, transforming it overnight into one of its most modern. Chiara Boschis is at the helm, producing fruit-forward wines that give you more of everything: more extract, colour, acidity, alcohol and oak. She mollycoddles her organic vineyards as if they’re her children. Recently joined by her brother, Giorgio, the estate has now grown to 8.5 hectares.
E.Pira was one of Barolo’s most historical producers until the Boschis family bought it in 1980, transforming it overnight into one of its most modern. Chiara Boschis is at the helm, producing fruit-forward wines that give you more of everything: more extract, colour, acidity, alcohol and oak. She mollycoddles her organic vineyards as if they’re her children. Recently joined by her brother, Giorgio, the estate has now grown to 8.5 hectares.
E.Pira di Chiara Boschis, Piedmont,
Ready, but will keep,
Chiara’s Cannubi is distinctly bright and pale red in colour, setting it apart from the blueberry purple of Mosconi. The colour is a tenuous link to the great Baroli of Serralunga d’Alba, where sand also plays an important role. The nose too is equally lifted, notably finer than Mosconi, with a pert cherry red kirsch character that elegantly continues on into the strawberry, salato palate in one fluid movement. There’s a freshness that supports the fact that Chiara is one of the first to harvest. Promising. Drinking 2017 – 2027.
David Berry Green
David Berry Green
E.Pira di Chiara Boschis, Piedmont,
Ready, but will keep,
New to the Chiara Boschis stable this vintage is the single vineyard Barolo Mosconi from Monforte d’Alba. At a glance it’s clearly different from the other two wines, being of darker, purple hue. No surprise then that this is a much richer wine (in all areas), thanks in part to its 50 year older vines. Despite the French oak, which will be toned down from vintage 2010, the nose is dense with bright blue and logan berry fruit, a trait of Monforte wines. It’s far bolder, with emphatic, lush, succulent blueberry fruit roll, velvety even; the liberally applied oak give it a ‘blackberries and cream’ character. Not for the faint hearted.
David Berry Green
David Berry Green
E.Pira di Chiara Boschis, Piedmont,
Ready, but will keep,
A blend of fruit from vineyards in the villages of Monforte, Barolo, and Serralunga, each contributing a colour to the canvas. Aged in both botti grande (16 hectarelitre French Vicard) and barriques, I’m pleased to report that the French oak is less evident and less drying on the finish, so allowing the pale red and soft, pretty strawberry fruit to shine through. There are even some peachy notes, together with a salty lick that could only come from Serralunga. From yields of 35hl/ha, harvest starting 8th October, and the wines was bottled on 19th Sept 2013; 580 cases made. A very pretty all-rounder.
David Berry Green
David Berry Green
E.Pira di Chiara Boschis, Piedmont,
Ready, but will improve,
More intense and more definite, the new French oak (70% botti grande, 30% barriques) shines through giving it a predominantly coffee bean character. Crunchy cool from a ‘first off the blocks’ early harvest (30th September), Chiara’s Cannubi is shy and reticent in youth, refined, sylph-like but with a lush velvety core. Needs time.
David Berry Green
David Berry Green
E.Pira di Chiara Boschis, Piedmont,
Ready, but will keep,
Chiara captures the expression of this sun-drenched sandy-marne site perfectly: molten tannins amid a deep sea of dark plum, choc and even blueberry notes.
It’s so finely woven, so pulpy and tasty, yet with an undercarriage to take it forward. Modern yes, rotos and barrique, but beautifully pure too; in fact you may come across some harmless anthocynanins/grape sediment as the wines are not fined or filtered.
David Berry Green, August 2011
It’s so finely woven, so pulpy and tasty, yet with an undercarriage to take it forward. Modern yes, rotos and barrique, but beautifully pure too; in fact you may come across some harmless anthocynanins/grape sediment as the wines are not fined or filtered.
David Berry Green, August 2011
Showing 1-12 out of 12 items
Since its purchase in 1980, following the tragic death of Luigi Pira, last in line of this historic family, Chiara Boschis di E. Pira has now grown this jewel of Barolo wine estate to 8.5ha/35,000 bts/ 50% of it, Nebbiolo. The estate is, like her, in perpetual motion and evolution. Since her brother Giorgio joined her a couple of years back, having left Borgogno, they’ve added new vineyards in Monforte d’Alba and started renting a plot in Serralunga’s Gabutti.
The twin pillars of the (wine) estate are the vineyards Cannubi & Via Nuova. Cannubi, facing SW, is Barolo's legendary cru of which Chiara has a fair few rows. Cannubi should not be confused with the likes of Cannubi Boschis or Cannubi Muscatel. There’s been the addition of new French (Vicard) oak botte grande, and consequently marginally fewer new barriques bought, plus a new storage ‘bunker’ at their Barolo cantina.
Her petite SSE-facing Via Nuova site located just up behind the winery was documented as far back as 1904, flanking the then new path to Novello; its vines are younger though, at 16 years. The modern vinification, carried out in a recently renovated cantina, is tightly controlled and constantly checked, with Chiara a keen analyst. Hulking rotofermentors still dominate the diminuitive cellar, though perhaps they're less frenetic than in the past.
She’s still tending her cows in Castelmagno for their cheese, or should I say her other brother Cesare is, and in 2013 she added a new Barolo to the offer: Mosconi, a prodigious single vineyard Barolo from the village of Monforte d’Alba.
Chiara's infectious energy, her can-do, will-do approach to life is reflected in her wines, which are constantly evolving she says, albeit incrementally. What doesn't alter, fortunately, is her staunch belief that the vineyards are sacred; a virtue which shines through in the deliciously seductive, compelling wines. A modern producer of Barolo who’s on the right tracks.
David Berry Green, BBR Buyer