A Defender of Dogliani: Nicoletta Bocca of San Fereolo

I love any excuse to talk about Nicoletta Bocca of San Fereolo. Luckily, the 2017 vintage of her flagship wine, also named 'San Fereolo', was just released as well as her ‘Austri Barbera 2016’, ‘Il Provinciale Nebbiolo 2019’ and ‘1593 Dolcetto 2012’. She makes some of my favorite wines in Piemonte. Just South of Barolo lay her patchwork of biodynamically farmed vineyards, mostly in Dogliani. If Barolo is the land of Nebbiolo, Dogliani is the land of Dolcetto. Nicoletta acquired twelve hectares in 1992 after leaving Milan and returning to her father’s native area where they visited in her childhood.

Nicoletta Bocca's life work has been bringing prominence, age-worthiness, and respect to Dolcetto just like Nebbiolo. Her wines are expressive, rustic, and terroir-driven. The wines are showing great vibrancy now (seeing as they have been aged at San Fereolo far longer than appellation requirements) but I would love to taste them after a few years in the cellar. The ‘San Fereolo Dogliani Superiore’ is Nicoletta’s flagship wine, aged in traditional large Slavonian botti for four years, yet her pricing remains fair in comparison to a Barolo treated with the same effort. This comparison is at the very core of her life’s work: she asks us to regard Dolcetto with the same respect as Nebbiolo; simply drinking the wine proves her point. Her ‘1593 Dolcetto 2012’, only made in exceptional vintages from the best parcels and oldest vines, is a study in the potential of the grape. She has some important holdings of Barbera which go into her ‘Austri’. If you are a fan of Flavio Roddolo, Bartolo Mascarello or Stefano Bellotti, Nicoletta Bocca wines express a similar ethos of wild fermentation and low technology, after working directly with these wineries.

A spirit of rebellion threads through Nicoletta’s work. Her father was part of an anti-fascist resistance group during WWII and later became a journalist commenting on Italian life. Her Langhe Nebbiolo ‘Il Provinciale’, is, I imagine, a reference to her father’s book by the same name. Though her Langhe Nebbiolo asks to be viewed humbly, the wine competes with some of the best Baroli. Her father was a native of Cuneo, just east of Dogliani, and would take the family on yearly trips from Milan to the Langhe, befriending Barolo winemakers along the way. This laid the foundation of Nicoletta’s reverence for the region and eventual return to her roots.

Cheers to Nicoletta and her many decades of success in Dogliani! 

-Marisa Licandro

In celebration of this latest release, there is a discounted four pack bundle available this weekend only. Click the link below to see more information on each wine. There are also magnums available!

Please allow until Wednesday Oct 1 for delivery or pick up.