I just opened a bottle of Bovio’s 2008 Langhe nebbiolo and, for the price (less than $20), I thought it a stellar example of this simple category. As I was writing my tasting notes which described sappy red fruits and good griping tannins suggesting this wine is still early in its evolution, I wondered why one never hears anything about this property? If this was only their lowest bottling, surely the Barolo they make should warrant further discussion. And yet one doesn’t hear anything. Has anyone else thought about Bovio before in the same way? What have been people’s reactions to their wines?
I have had several bottles of the Bovio Barolo Vigna Gattera from 1993 and 1996, and the Vigna Arborina 1998; they were fairly easy to find a few years back. I suspect they may have changed US distributors about five years ago because the wine became more expensive and harder to find. As recently as two or three years ago I picked up several bottles of the 1993 for $40 each. There has been some bottle variation on those, but a few of them were wonderful – much better than I expected for the price. I also liked the 1996, while the 1998 Arborina was not as much to my taste, though still good value. They are not big wines, leaning more toward refinement and elegance, but it’s classic Nebbiolo, with roses and cherry on the palate.
At the current $50 plus prices, I am not as eager to buy the more recent vintages as when it was $40, but the value is still acceptable for the money (at least for me.) Others more experienced with Piemonte can probably tell you more – I believe there is a restaurant in La Morra that is or was associated with the winery in some way.
The restaurant is very good. Just down from the town of La Morra. The wines were OK, but I only have limited experience with them as they aren’t distributed in my area.
I thought this thread was about the restaurant (had forgotten they have a wine label). What a gorgeous restaurant. Great food, service and wine list last time I was there (maybe 3 years ago). A place not to be missed for the visitor to Piemonte.
That’s the Ristorante Belvedere, which the family ran for many years. I believe they sold is a few years back and the next generation opened a restaurant under the family name down the hill.
The Belvedere was a barn of a restaurant, with fluorescent sconces, I remember vividly – sort of what you might expect of an Italian restaurant in Brooklyn that handled a lot of wedding receptions. But the food was excellent, thoroughly traditional, the wine list was extraordinary and Signor Bovio was always gracious. I ate their a number of times, and several of those were memorable meals. (Not least the one where I misunderstood the menu. My brother and I wanted a light lunch so I ordered the antipasti misti for two, expecting a platter of selections. Instead we got five dishes in sequence leading up to our pasta.)
I had relatively little experience with Bovio’s wines. They were barriqued, as I recall, which makes sense since they were located in Annunziato, I believe, which was ground zero for the modernists. I think Neal Rosenthal was their importer for many years, but they’re not listed on his web site now.
Right about the photo, John, but Signor Bovio himself is running the new place. Il Belvedere was still there last I checked, and while not at all the same arch-traditional style of food as in Bovio’s time, still very good. (Chris also ate there after Bovio had left if 3 years ago.). I would be hard-pressed to recommend it over Ristorante Bovio or a number of other dining choices nearby, but as you know, that is no knock on Il Belvedere, given the local embarrassment of dining riches. Hard to beat a lunch outside there in the summertime!
The view from Ristorante Bovio is not bad either…
Oh, sure, if you want to look at FOG all of the time! 
(Actually, I love the nebbia, unlike Pavese, and find that global warming is depriving me of it more and more. But not today. I am still trying to find my car, which would not be so bad, except that I have not left home yet!)
THAT FOG is beautiful. And you are a fog amateur… come down in Pianura and see the real thing…
Ah Belvedere. I had a wonderful lunch there in the early 1990s. Risotto with shrooms and a 1982 Bartolo that was gorgeous.
Ah Bovio wines. I’ve had very few and not gotten excited about any of them.
HA! You could well be right, but as you know, we are famous for it, whether well-deserved or not. I think that it could be a fringe benefit of naming your leading grape after a weather condition. It is a little surprising that you wily people down there did not think to do that first…
I am with the rest on the Bovio wines. I love the man and his due ristoranti, and wanted to like his wines for that reason, but could not, especially when he has caseloads of Giacosas in his cantinas (or did, anyway)…
I had an 89 Gattera dell’Annunziata many years back that I recall being very good, and I still have one more. My notes on a 93 Arborina Dell’Annunziato drunk in 2005 were: “Lovely aroma, very drinkable; not profound, but balanced and pleasing. 87/88”
Foiled by the internet, then saved by the internet. Thanks for the correction.
AH-HA!!! Gotcha!!! 
Nebbiolo grape name comes from the fact that the grapes are pruin rich, so they look foggy!! ![[cheers.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/0ff9bfcdb0964982cd3240b6159868fbdf215b1a.gif "cheers"){kind=small}
Actually I was born and raised in Sanremo, have a house in Limone Piemonte, so no (very little) fog in my youth… Then I got to live in Milan… 
I will try to run into a few bottles this year. In between my Ray Walker searches of course. Last time I was at the restaurant the meal was pretty amazing. And Vittore from Fratelli Alessandria ended up dropping 4-5 bottles on our table. Two people and six bottles. We did the best we could. But we did not allow the Giacosa to go to waste.