Boscarelli

My early tastings of Vino Nobile di Montepulciano in the 1960s left me wondering how in the world the “noble” got into the name. For it seemed to me that all the decadence of Tuscan tradition has been lauded in the seventeenth century by the poet Francesco Redi as “of all wines king.” Then, in the mid-1970s, Ippolito and Paola De Ferrari Corradi, a young couple from Genoa, quietly introduced new concepts of winemaking at their small Poderi Boscarelli and emerged with perhaps the first modern wines that lived up to the name. Ippolito died all too soon after, but Paola and sons Luca and Niccolo carried on, hiring Maurizio Castelli to make wines that inspired the revival of Vino Nobile. In 1983, caught up in the wave of innovation that was sweeping Tuscany, they produced a wine called simply Boscarelli of pure Sangiovese matured in barrels of French oak. Though not officially a Nobile, Boscarelli from fine vintages has been the wine that best expresses how Sangiovese (known locally as Prugnolo Gentile) prospers in the privileged terrains of Montepulciano. Boscarelli from 1985 was the most appealing wine among 27 old vintages presented in the “Taste of Tuscan History” event in Florence in 1996. From 14 hectares of vines, Poderi Boscarelli produces from 60,000-70,000 bottles of estates wines annually, including Vino Nobile di Montepulciano DOCG and the prized Riserva Vigna del Nocio.