Barolo harvest report 2024 – lots of grapes, little alcohol

‘This year almost did me in’, Chiara Boschis told me. ‘I said to myself, “I need to retire”.’ Boschis, who together with her brother Giorgio and her nice Beatrice runs the historic E Pira estate in the middle of Barolo, didn’t mince her words when talking about the 2024 vintage. ‘The whole year was a challenge, but at least there was rain.’

While 2023 may go into the collective memory as ‘the year of peronospora’ in Italy, a reference to the...