The Queen of Barolo Chiara Boschis

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Girl Power!!! Chiara was a woman before her time, and she has not stopped being a pioneer for the Barolo area. Chiara was born to a great wine making family in the heart of Barolo, Borgogno. As she was the only daughter amongst her brothers, being in charge of the family winery unfortunately was not in her destiny. Growing up amongst the boys, one thing is for sure that Chiara did not miss out on was the courage to take action at a young age. While convincing her father to help her acquire the winery E. Pira right down the cobble stone road from the family winery in Barolo. The late owners of whom were all women, was a place meant for Chiara. Chiara was grated the possibility to purchase the winery E. Pira under one condition, that she kept the family name and their crest on her labels so their legacy still can live on. So she did and she also added her name Chiara Boschis to let people know it was her who was making the wine. 

Chiara alongside Elio Altare and Domenico Clerico were some of the first people to change how the world looks at Barolo. She was part of a group of youngsters who were “shaking up” the Barolo area. Brining in clean winemaking methods, as well as using techniques new to the area. From this they were then called the “Barolo Boys” as it was a group of young men and Chiara. 

If you are lucky enough to bump into Chiara, to have the opportunity to sit and chat with her, the stories and her understanding of the vineyard and also the life of the wine are incredible. She is a wealth of knowledge and also is one of the first people in the area of Barolo to start to believe and work in an organic way. She believes in the future and to do so you must take care of what you have now in order to give something to the next generation. Chiara Boschis is an inspiration to women in the area as well as being a forward thinker to the evolution of the area. 

E. Pira Chiara Boschis

Barolo 2002 Cuvee Chiara

This was a gift from Chiara, and a very good one at that!

I have to say it has been fun that we have been tasting some difficult vintages lately because it helps to show who can swim and who will sink. Chiara in 2002 was the wine of the night and as the judging panel had said that hands down from the Piedmont area the Cuvee Chiara 2002 was the best 2002 they have ever had. Now we are tasting this wine in 2016 giving it 14 years of age. This says a lot for a wine who had such a hard vintage, with all the rain and particularly hail in the Barolo area a lot of producers didn’t even think or have the courage to make a Barolo in that year.

Right from the start, this wine was fresh super fresh, black fruits, herbs, chocolate. In tasting the finish lingered on the pallet and the tannins were again right there, fresh, clean. WOW! As it continued to sit in the bottle the wine continued to get better. It was too bad that we didn’t wait another 5 years because this wine really had the potential to continue to age wonderfully.   And what a surprise that would have been. Thank you Chiara.

ChiaraBoschis