If you tossed a handful of pebbles high from the parapet of the Castello di Barolo, the odds are good that a few of them are going to plunk someone named Borgogno when they come down. (Please, let’s not try this) It’s one of only about five surnames you’ll find residing in this village of 750 souls, and the Borgogno family tree is centuries tall, with many, many branches. One limb dates from 1720 and leads down to one twig named Enrico Borgogno who, in 1950, was the first of the clan to bottle the grapes grown on his family’s Barolo estate in the subzone then called Cannubio. Enrico’s son Lodovico followed him and ran the winemaking estate until 1988 when Lodovico’s daughter Virna, fresh out of enology school in Alba, joined the family business. Three years later, while working in the cellar and commuting to Torino, she became the first woman to graduate with a First from the winemaking course at Turin University. Then, in 2001, she became the first women owner ever of a Barolo cellar when she formerly took over the reins of the family business. Her first order of business after taking over was to giving the cellar and the vineyards a complete facelift and, then, an overdue name change. Indeed, since then it has been all Virna, ably assisted by her sister Ivana, who have turned this cellar into one of the highest-considered in the town of Barolo. The family owns around 12 hectares of vines in total, all in the Barolo, Novello and Monforte d’Alba areas, including prime real estate in what’s now known as Cannubi-Boschis (as well as parcels in the Merli, Preda and Sarmassa MGAs). The Cannubi vineyard doesn’t need a lot of introduction here. Her large parcel borders the Sandrones’ on one side and Francesco Rinaldi’s on the other, and is comprised of some very old vines in prime position. Virna doesn’t make a lot of wine, but what she doesn’t sell immediately she keeps in unlabeled bottles in bins scattered all over her rather chaotic cantina, shoehorned right into the middle of the town of Barolo. Virna releases her wines only when she wants to, and will often pop open older bottles when you visit just to satisfy her own curiosity. So it was, after a marathon tasting session with her California importer, that this 2014 Barolo Cannubi-Boschis came into our hands. The 2014s, she told the importer, were always interesting wines to her because they were born with very low pHs and rather high acidities, almost a percentage point higher than the norm, and, while the fruit harvested in this damp, cool vintage was always ‘tender,’ she never doubted it would grow into its significant armature. And so it has, in a complete re-reckoning of the 2014 vintage in Barolo. Here are Barolo’s ‘scorched earth,’ tar and roses on vivid display with plenty of tannin, but they’re ripe and yielding tannins rather than green and harsh. Virna still works traditionally, although, over the years, she’s shortened her macerations a bit, and a portion of the wine is aged in some 500-liter French oak casks as well as the older large botti in the cellar. The smaller format wood tends to add texture and a bit more early approachability to a wine that always was, by its nature, fairly austere. In fact, we were very impressed with the wine’s expressiveness, volume and svelte, effortless elegance. The aromatics are superb- rosy floral notes buttressed by whiffs of camphor, cinnamon, dried fennel and pronounced ‘putty,’ or dried earth. The surprise is just how sweet and well-filled it is and how it still promises many more years improvement in the cellar. It’s a knockout to drink now, though, and, truly, the reason we wait! By the way, a 2004 Virna from the Sarmassa MGA, consumed over the holidays, reminded us how well her wines can evolve. With fewer than 250 cases produced, this is a beautiful 2014 with a great future ahead. Brava! 24 bottles available.

Wine Advocate (reviewed in 2018): The 2014 Barolo Cannubi Boschis is a wine of depth and substance. This Barolo achieves a very pretty level of density and power for what is a cooler vintage. Red rose aromas rise to the top but are quickly followed by more substantial tones of blackberry and ripe cherry. This is a mid-weight effort that is enhanced by finely tuned layers of spice and crushed stone. The wine needs a bit of time to open and put on volume, but once it does it sails forth with pride and purpose. 93+ points