Why it matters
The producer
Silvano Nizza runs Ca' Boscarone, a farmstead in Santo Stefano Roero, as the third generation of his family to make wine from the same ground. His father Sandro and uncle Alfredo farmed the land from 1957. What Silvano did differently, in the early 2000s, was bottle the wine under the family name.
The estate holds 8 hectares in total. Of those, 2.80 are registered under the Roero DOCG: 2.30 hectares planted to Arneis and 0.50 to Nebbiolo. The majority of the range is white, built around Arneis, the grape that defines the appellation. The Nebbiolo block is small, but it carries the estate's most serious bottle.
Place and vineyards
Where the wines begin
The Roero DOCG sits on the right bank of the Tanaro river in Piedmont, across the water from the Langhe. The two banks share the Tanaro valley but not the soil. The Roero sits on sandier, lighter ground than the Barolo side; Nebbiolo ripens differently here, producing wines with softer tannin and a more woodland-forward character rather than the iron grip of a Barolo.
The appellation is built primarily around Arneis, the white grape that was revived in the Roero in the 1970s and now carries the DOCG name for white wines. Santo Stefano Roero, where Ca' Boscarone stands, is one of the villages within the Roero DOCG zone. The village name appears on Silvano's entry Nebbiolo label, a designation that anchors the wine to its specific commune rather than the broader regional appellation.
In the cellar
Vineyards and cellar
Of the estate's 8 hectares, 2.30 are planted to Arneis and 0.50 to Nebbiolo within the DOCG zone. The remaining hectares fall outside the DOCG boundaries and supply the Nebbiolo d'Alba DOC.
The cellar runs two approaches for each grape. Arneis goes either into stainless steel for four to ten months, preserving the grape's natural freshness and fruit, or into small oak with bâtonnage for twelve months, building a more textured, fuller white. Nebbiolo takes the longer route in both its DOCG expressions: the Roero del Comune spends 22 months in large oak casks before six months in bottle; the Riserva Ca' Boscarone spends 32 months in smaller oak barrels plus a further six months in bottle. The difference in vessel size matters: large casks soften without adding pronounced oak flavour; smaller barrels over 32 months give the Riserva more wood contact and a denser mid-palate. Nebbiolo d'Alba, from the broader Alba denomination, ages 12 months in oak, sitting between the two Roero reds in age and ambition.
Wines to know
The range in view
The range divides cleanly by grape and tier.
Arneis, two expressions. Jemei Roero Arneis is the volume wine: stainless steel, fresh, aromatic, approximately 30,000 bottles per year. Il S. Stefano Roero Arneis is the opposite: small oak, bâtonnage, 12 months of ageing, approximately 2,000 bottles per year, with a rounder, creamier weight and more oak contact than the Jemei. Both come from the same 2.30-hectare Arneis block at Ca' Boscarone.
A useful way in
A bottle to begin with
Roero del Comune di Santo Stefano Roero is the right first bottle. It is a village-labelled Roero Nebbiolo, aged 22 months in large oak casks plus six months in bottle, produced in around 4,000 bottles per year. The large cask ageing gives the wine a softness the Riserva does not have; the tannin is present but not demanding, the woodland character of Roero Nebbiolo is clear, and the body is full without being heavy. It explains what the Roero does with Nebbiolo and what this estate does with its oak without requiring the commitment, the wait, or the scarcity of the Riserva Ca' Boscarone.