Santuvario

  • Boca, Piedmont, Italy
Santuvario

Thank you to importer Louis/Dressner for this profile of Santuvario:

(Click here for more on Santuvario on the LDM website)

Boca is one of Italy's smallest viticultural regions, with just 30 hectares planted and only 15 of those eligible for the DOC. Though densely planted with over 1000 hectares as recently as the 1930's, it was down to only 10 by the early 1990's. In an all too familiar tale, factory jobs led many farmers to progressively abandon their land (sadly, those same jobs are also long gone). Today, in large part due to the wines and promotion of Boca by Swiss visionary Christoph Künzli, the area has seen an uptick of new talent.

Ivano Barbaglia is certainly one of those up-and-comers. For most of his career, Ivano was a musical instrument repairman. While he enjoyed the work, a stroke in 2011 left him with limited mobility in his right hand. Forced to take a new direction, he started the Santuvario project with a tiny plot of family land. Together with his wife Paola, they started with two hectares of Nebbiolo, Croatina, Vespolina, Uva Rara and Erbaluce, as well as 50 ares (a half hectare) planted in 2013 and 2014.

In 2019, they were able to acquire an additional vineyard of very old Croatina and an additional hill of vines for new plantations. When everything comes into production, this will have doubled the size of the land to four hectares.

The name Santuvario comes from the gorgeous convent that his family's old vines overlook. In fact, the "Santuvario Rosso" label is actually taken from this arial picture of the convent when it was surrounded in vines:

 

Image Producer PRODUCT Description Country / Region

DB8830-17
Organic
Santuvario Vino Rosso "Santuvario"
2017
Nebbiolo
55% Nebbiolo/30% Croatina/10% Vespolina/5% Uva Rara. Unlike the riserva-level "Lozio" red, the "Santuvario" red is made annually, from...
Italy

DB8830-18
Organic
Santuvario Vino Rosso "Santuvario"
2018
Nebbiolo
55% Nebbiolo/30% Croatina/10% Vespolina/5% Uva Rara. Unlike the riserva-level "Lozio" red, the "Santuvario" red is made annually, from...
Italy

DB8839-16
Organic
Santuvario Vino Rosso "Lozio"
2016
Nebbiolo
80% Nebbiolo/20% Vespolina. These 40+-year-old vines grow on a hill of sandy, mineral-rich volcanic soils overlooking the sanctuary ("...
Italy

DB8839-17
Organic
Santuvario Vino Rosso "Lozio"
2017
Nebbiolo
80% Nebbiolo/20% Vespolina. These 40+-year-old vines grow on a hill of sandy, mineral-rich volcanic soils overlooking the sanctuary ("...
Italy

DB3796-20
Organic
Santuvario Vino Rosso "Lavigna"
2020
Croatina
100% Croatina. 2020 is the second vintage of this very small bottling from Santuvario. The organically farmed vines lie entirely in the...
Italy

DB8849-21
Organic
Santuvario Vino Bianco "Gino"
2021
Erbaluce
100% Erbaluce. Planted in high hills on the volcanic soils of Boca DOC in Alto Piemonte, the few rows of vines in this tiny parcel average...
Italy