Italy · Langhe

Azienda Agricola Gabutti - Boasso Franco

A family estate in Serralunga d'Alba making three single-zone Barolos from named crus using long maceration and large old Slavonian oak casks.

The producer

Gabutti - Boasso Franco sits at the end of a short lane in Borgata Gabutti, a hamlet in Serralunga d'Alba whose name the family puts on their most important bottle. Franco Boasso farms 4.5 hectares of Nebbiolo across three named Serralunga sub-zones with his sons Ezio and Claudio, bottling each as a separate Barolo: Gabutti, Margheria, and Margaria on the label, no blending across parcels, no new oak. The Gabutti sub-zone was classified by Renato Ratti, the winemaker and Barolo historian who mapped the commune's crus, as a first-class Barolo site.

The family has farmed this ground since the postwar years and sold grapes for a generation before Franco switched to estate bottling in the early 1970s. The winemaking approach he established then has not changed: 15 days of submerged-cap maceration, malolactic fermentation in steel, and ageing in large old Slavonian oak casks ranging from 8 to 25 hectolitres. No vanilla, no toast, no added sweetness from the wood. The Barolos are firm, mineral, and tannic from Serralunga limestone, built for the cellar and slow to open.

Known for

Traditional Serralunga Barolo from three separate cru bottlings: Gabutti, Margheria, and Margaria, aged in large neutral Slavonian oak with no new wood.

Notable facts

The story

The Label That Stayed

Franco Boasso grew up watching his father Giuseppe sell the family's Nebbiolo harvest to the cooperatives and négociant houses that dominated the Langhe trade in the postwar decades. Most smallholders in Serralunga did the same: the crop went out in bulk and someone else put a label on it. At some point in the early 1970s, Franco decided to keep the grapes. He built out the cellar at Borgata Gabutti, vinified the harvest himself, and had a label printed with the family name. The sub-zone the family had farmed since before Franco was born, Gabutti, went straight onto the bottle. Forty years later, his sons Ezio and Claudio still make wine in the same cellar, using the same long macerations and the same large Slavonian oak casks, and the hamlet name sits at the top of the label on the estate's flagship Barolo.

From the atlas

Azienda Agricola Gabutti - Boasso Franco

At A Glance

Producer: Azienda Agricola Gabutti - Boasso Franco Village: Borgata Gabutti, Serralunga d'Alba Region: Langhe, Piedmont, Italy Grape: Nebbiolo Appellation: Barolo DOCG Style: Traditional, long-macerated, large-cask Nebbiolo Key Wines: Barolo Gabutti, Barolo Margheria, Barolo del Comune di Serralunga d'Alba

The Producer

Gabutti - Boasso Franco sits at the end of a short lane in Borgata Gabutti, a hamlet whose name the family now puts on their most important bottle. Franco Boasso manages the estate with his sons Ezio and Claudio, farming 4.5 hectares of Nebbiolo across three named Serralunga sub-zones: Gabutti, Margheria, and Margaria. Three separate Barolo bottlings carry those zone names on the label. No blending across parcels, no new oak, no modern shortcuts.

The Boasso family has farmed this ground since the postwar years. They sold grapes for a generation before Franco switched the operation to estate bottling in the early 1970s. That decision put the family name on a label and locked in a winemaking approach that has not changed materially since: long maceration in steel, malolactic in steel, ageing in large old Slavonian oak casks. The Gabutti sub-zone was later classified by Renato Ratti, the winemaker and Barolo historian who mapped the commune's crus, as a first-class Barolo site.

Place

Serralunga d'Alba is one of the five original Barolo communes and the one most associated with long-ageing, mineral, tannic Nebbiolo. The soils here are Helvetian marine sediments: compact, calcium-rich limestone and clay that drain well but hold heat. Nebbiolo on this ground produces wines with firm, close-grained tannin, slower aromatic development, and a structural density that separates Serralunga Barolo from the rounder, earlier-drinking wines of La Morra or Barolo village.

Barolo is a DOCG covering eleven communes in the Langhe hills of southern Piedmont. The only permitted grape is Nebbiolo. Within Serralunga, the individual sub-zones (called MGA, Menzioni Geografiche Aggiuntive, under current Italian wine law) appear on the label when a producer bottles them separately. Gabutti, Margheria, and Margaria are all Serralunga sub-zones, and all three appear on Boasso bottles as distinct single-zone wines.

Soil And Site

The Gabutti hamlet occupies a mid-slope position on the eastern flank of the Serralunga ridge. The soils are the Helvetian compact limestone-clay typical of the commune: high in calcium carbonate, with limited topsoil and good drainage. This combination stresses the vine at the right moment in the growing season, limiting yield and concentrating the Nebbiolo crop into smaller, thicker-skinned berries. Thicker skins mean more tannin and more colour extraction during maceration, which is part of why Serralunga Barolo needs time. Margaria and Margheria share broadly similar geology, with slight variations in slope aspect that alter the harvest window by a few days.

Story

Giuseppe Boasso returned from the war and restarted the farm at Borgata Gabutti. Through the 1950s and into the 1960s, the family grew grapes and sold them, as most smallholders in the Langhe did at the time. The cooperatives and larger négociant houses absorbed most of the production from Serralunga's farming families.

Franco Boasso changed course in the early 1970s. He chose to vinify the family's grapes and bottle under the Boasso name, committing the farm to wine production rather than grape supply. The decision required a cellar, a label, and a market, none of which existed. Franco built all three. The winemaking approach he established, long maceration in steel and extended ageing in large neutral Slavonian oak, has remained the estate's method through to the present generation.

Ezio took on the winemaking and Claudio the agriturismo, which launched formally in 2010 under the name I Grappoli. The hospitality operation lets visitors stay at the estate and eat in the Langhe while working through the Boasso range, a model common across the wine villages of Piedmont but grounded here in the specifics of Borgata Gabutti.

Vineyards And Cellar

The 4.5 hectares under vine are planted entirely to Nebbiolo for the Barolo bottlings, with the remaining farm area given over to Barbera, Dolcetto, Arneis, and Moscato for the supporting range. The Nebbiolo parcels in Gabutti, Margheria, and Margaria are farmed separately and vinified separately, with each sub-zone going into its own bottle.

Maceration runs for 15 days using a submerged-cap system, which keeps the grape skins in contact with the fermenting juice and extracts tannin and colour at a measured pace. Malolactic fermentation takes place in steel, which preserves the bright acidity that Nebbiolo carries from Serralunga's limestone ground.

The cask regime is the clearest marker of Boasso's traditional approach. All three Barolo bottlings age in large Slavonian oak: the Gabutti in 8-10 hl barrels that are 10 years old; the Margheria in 20 hl barrels that are 15 years old for 36 months; the Serralunga commune wine in 25 hl barrels that are 20 years old for 30 months. Large, old, neutral wood passes no vanilla or toast to the wine. What the barrel does is allow a slow exchange with oxygen, softening the tannins fractionally over years without adding oak flavour. The fruit character and the tannin come from the grape and the site, not from the cask.

Wines

The three Barolo bottlings are the estate's core, and they are differentiated not only by sub-zone but by barrel size and ageing duration.

The Barolo Gabutti ages in the smallest casks on the property, 8-10 hl barrels that are 10 years old. Smaller volume means the wine sits closer to the wood surface relative to its volume, which concentrates the ageing effect even from neutral oak. Gabutti tends to show the tightest profile at release: compact dark fruit, firm tannin, a mineral edge from the limestone, and a long finishing grip that needs several years in the bottle before it loosens.

The Barolo Margheria spends 36 months in 20 hl barrels, the longest formal ageing period in the range. The additional size and time produce a wine with slightly more integrated tannin at release, though Serralunga's baseline firmness remains. Dried cherry, tar, and dried rose are typical aromatic markers, with the acidity giving the mid-palate length.

The Barolo del Comune di Serralunga d'Alba draws fruit from across the estate's Serralunga parcels and ages 30 months in the largest and oldest casks, 25 hl barrels that are 20 years old. It functions as the commune-level introduction to the range, less concentrated than the single-zone wines but sharing the same Serralunga tannic weight and mineral acidity. The 2018 vintage showed intense ruby with garnet reflections and a nose of overripe fruit and spice.

Beyond Barolo, the estate produces a Langhe Nebbiolo at the DOC level, earlier-drinking than any of the Barolos; Barbera d'Alba and Dolcetto d'Alba as the two supporting Piedmontese reds; a Roero Arneis white from the Arneis grape grown across the Tanaro river; and a Moscato d'Asti, lightly sparkling and low in alcohol.

In The Glass

Serralunga Nebbiolo has a particular aromatic register: dried rose, tar, liquorice, dark cherry, and dried tobacco are the markers that come up consistently, and Boasso wines follow that profile. The nose opens slowly, especially in younger vintages, with the fruit sitting behind a firm mineral core.

In the mouth, the tannins arrive early and stay long. This is compact, close-grained tannin from limestone-grown Nebbiolo and traditional maceration, not aggressive but genuinely present. The acidity is firm and vertical, holding the wine's shape through the mid-palate and pushing the finish out. Because the Slavonian oak is large and old, there is no vanilla, no toast, no sweetness from the wood. The fruit is dark and dried rather than fresh, and the finish has a mineral grip that lingers. Boasso Barolos need time: five years from vintage is a minimum starting point for the Margheria and Gabutti, and the best vintages are still coherent at fifteen.

A Bottle To Understand It

Start with the Barolo Gabutti. It is the home cru, the sub-zone whose name the family uses for the estate itself, and it ages in the smallest barrels on the property, giving it the most concentrated expression of what Serralunga limestone does to Nebbiolo. The wine is firm and compact, with dried cherry, tar, and a chalky mineral finish. The tannins are real and the acidity is strong, but there is enough dark fruit behind them to make the wine's purpose clear: built for the cellar, designed to open over years rather than months. Open it after eight years and it begins to show what the site can do.

Anecdote

Franco Boasso grew up watching his father Giuseppe sell the family's Nebbiolo harvest to the cooperatives and négociant houses that dominated the Langhe trade in the postwar decades. Most smallholders in Serralunga did the same: the crop went out in bulk and someone else put a label on it. At some point in the early 1970s, Franco decided to keep the grapes. He built out the cellar at Borgata Gabutti, vinified the harvest himself, and had a label printed with the family name. The sub-zone the family had farmed since before Franco was born, Gabutti, went straight onto the bottle. Forty years later, his sons Ezio and Claudio still make wine in the same cellar, using the same long macerations and the same large Slavonian oak casks, and the hamlet name sits at the top of the label on the estate's flagship Barolo.

Final Word

Gabutti - Boasso Franco makes no argument for its wines other than the wines themselves. Three Serralunga sub-zones, three separate cuvees, traditional methods unchanged since the 1970s. The Barolos are slow to open and built for the cellar. If that is what you are looking for in Nebbiolo, the Gabutti is where to start.

Sources

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