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News from the Cantina

September 5, 2011

In This Issue
2011 Vintage Report, so far
New Releases
Valmaggiore News
Vineyard & Cantina News
Barolo Resting in the Cantina
Barolo History

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Sibi et Paucis   

SeP Logo SQ 

Along with the new current releases coming out this month, we will release the new group of

 "Sibi et Paucis" wines:

2005 Valmaggiore,

2003 Barolo Le Vigne and 2003 Barolo Cannubi Boschis.

 

The Sibi et Paucis program is our library re-release program and more information can be found

here on our website.

 

Each newsletter will have a spotlight on one of the different Sibi et Paucis releases.  For more information, follow the links for the 

2003 Cannubi Boschis

 Sibi et Paucis 

and the 

2003 Le Vigne Sibi et Paucis.

 

Sibi et Paucis Spotlight on

2005 Valmaggiore.  

Very fruit-forward with a lovely core of dark cherry and raspberry.  Hints of earth and minerality, with a floral rose element.  On the palate, very elegant, without any sharp edges.  Lovely core of red fruits, balanced by excellent acidity, gives this wine a round, full mouthfeel without feeling fat or heavy.  The tannins are still present and the wine could benefit from another year or two of aging, but the wine is delicious now, just beginning its plateau of maturity.  There are hints of red citrus at the back of the palate, and the finish is very long, flavorful and dry.  Lovely structure, not a thing out of place.  Drink now-2018

Upcoming EventsNYWE Logo

New York City

October 20-22

Luciano and Barbara will be participating in this year's New York Wine Experience hosted by the Wine Spectator.  Further information and tickets can be found here.

 

Rosport, Luxembourg

November 19

Barbara will be at a tasting with our importer, Caves Wengler, on November 19 from 16.00-22.00

Information at www.wengler.lu

 

Cannubi Long Color
Greetings!

The end of summer is always an exciting time here at the winery, as we wait for the fruit to finish ripening and the harvest to begin. It's a beehive of activity here: each day Luca is out in the vines, babying the grapes along to perfect ripeness, while Luciano paces in the "cantina," making sure everything is clean, perfect and ready for the coming work of winemaking. It will be 65-75 continuous days of work without pause from the beginning of picking to the wine being put in barrel. We are excited, nervous, hopeful and ready to go to work!

 

We are excited to announce that today, September 5, is the start of our harvest.  We began picking this morning with the cool first light. The first grapes to come in will naturally be the Dolcetto - always the first to ripen. The fruit is healthy and clean and we have high hopes for an excellent vintage. We are very excited to begin work after 6 months of anticipation!

 

2011 has been an exciting and fulfilling year for us. We started out with a February trip to the Mosel valley in Germany to visit wineries and learn more about the region; Luciano is a big fan of great Riesling. In March, we finalized a long-term rental of part of the Villero vineyard in Castiglione Falletto; these grapes will be used in the Le Vigne Barolo bottling beginning this year. At the end of March we made a quick trip to New York to participate in the first "Festa del Barolo," hosted by Antonio Galloni of the Wine Advocate. April brought an easy bud break and the May flowering was under good conditions. Also in May, we finalized the purchase of 1.55 ha of vineyard land in Baudana of Serralunga d'Alba - opportunities like this rarely come along and we could not be more pleased that we were able to purchase this amazing piece of land. In June we participated in VinExpo in Bordeaux and were thankful for the excellent reception our wines garnered from the French people and press. At the same time, Luciano made his first trip to Moscow to support our importer and distributors there, and was warmly received by the many wine-lovers there. In July we bottled the 2010 Dolcetto which we think is an excellent wine and look forward to releasing it in September. August we were able to take a little time off from the daily work of the cantina to do some hiking in the Piedmontese Alps. Now we are looking forward to the harvest in the coming month!

 

We want to announce that the complete re-design and rebuilding of our website www.sandroneluciano.com is complete. There you will find detailed information about the winemaking, vineyards, people and cantina, as well as detailed information about every wine that Luciano has made. We hope that you find the site informative and useful, and of course we welcome your comments and criticism in order to continually improve it.

 

Also this year we have launched our facebook page which we use for posting day-to-day news about happenings at the winery. You can join our online community by clicking the "Like" button at www.facebook.com/sandrone.barolo.  

 

For those of you in the New York City area, we will be participating in the Wine Spectator's New York Wine Experience from October 20-22. We look forward to seeing you there!

 

We hope you enjoy our new newsletter. We plan to send it out seasonally, four times per year, full of information about the wines, the cantina and vineyards, as well as an occasional "Barolo History" nugget. If you no longer wish to receive future mailings, you may quickly and safely unsubscribe anytime by clicking the "SafeUnsubscribe" button at the end of this newsletter. Rest assured we will never share your personal information with anyone.

 

As always, we thank you for your continued interest in our wines, and we hope to continue to fulfill your expectations of quality and excellence in the bottle.

 

With warmest regards, 

 

Luciano Sandrone

Barbara Sandrone

Luca Sandrone

2011 Vintage Report ... So FarCantina Sunset light

 

To this point, the 2011 growing season has been very good and we hope for excellent wines this year.  The 2010-11 winter was wet with snow and rain, which replenished the groundwater fully.  We had no late frosts, but a spell of rain in March soaked the ground beyond its ability to hold moisture and there were some mudslides in the region, though thankfully none of our vineyards were damaged as in the spring of 2008.  An early burst of heat during the second half of April caused bud break to be about 10 days ahead of schedule, but normal temperatures since then have kept the season from accelerating further.  Flowering was under optimal conditions: sunny, dry and ever-so-slightly breezy.  Early June was cool with several rainstorms but the grapes dried quickly due to constant gentle breezes and thus disease has not been a problem this year.  The vines and fruit are healthy!

 

As the summer progressed, we have been blessed with normal warm daytime temperatures - we only had 10 days of sustained heat during the second half of August - and deliciously cool nights during most of the season.  These are perfect conditions for the maturation process and should result in excellent aromatics as well as well-structured tannins and acids.  If these conditions continue (a big if! a huge if!) we expect this to be a more classically styled vintage.  In any case, the coming months of September and October are the most critical for Nebbiolo, so realistically we cannot make any sort of firm prediction at this time.

 

Nebbiolo is a fickle plant and weather conditions can change between now and the end of harvest, but we are cautiously optimistic. It has been a surprisingly easy growing season so far (knock on wood!) and our goal is to hold back picking as long as possible to let the grapes enjoy the warm days and cool nights of early autumn that is critical to the ripening process. Nebbiolo tannins are notoriously late to ripen and we strive to give the plants as much time as they need to reach full maturity.

 

We are looking forward to the harvest and will report back on the upcoming two months in our next newsletter, which we expect to send out in mid-December.

New Releases this Week!Bottles dark background

 

The new wines are released this week on the first of September:  

2007 Barolo Le Vigne

2007 Barolo Cannubi Boschis

2009 Valmaggiore Nebbiolo d'Alba, 2009 Barbera d'Alba and 

2010 Dolcetto d'Alba

Technical data, ratings and tasting notes for all wines including historical vintages can be found by following the above links to our website.

 

The 2007 Barolo have already received stellar scores and reviews from Antonio Galloni in the Wine Advocate and by James Suckling at his new website JamesSuckling.com. Interestingly, both journalists gave the same scores for the two wines: 96 for the Le Vigne and 97 for the Cannubi Boschis. We thank both James and Antonio for their support of our wines.

 

New Release Spotlight on 2007 Barolo Le Vigne.  

This wine has received glowing reviews and we could not be happier with its development over the four years since we made the wine. It is a deep, complex wine that requires less patience than other vintages of this wine, and can be enjoyed young due to the forward and approachable nature of the 2007 vintage. This is a wine to enjoy for its fantastic fruit and engaging personality.

 

Tasting note:

Intense dark garnet hue. First, a very dark, tight nose that with coaxing releases blossoming layers of dark cherries, black raspberries, licorice, vanillin oak and violet. On the palate, incredible richness is balanced with immense ripe tannins and great structure - this has layers of black fruits, minerals, well-integrated wood and notes of espresso bean. The finish is incredibly ripe and dry and goes on for at least 35-40 seconds - an incredible wine from an incredible vintage. This wine will require some patience on the part of the consumer until it is at its peak but will reward him or her with a majestic wine very much in the modern style of classic Barolo. However, it is so delicious now that it may be difficult to wait! Drink 2013-2025. 

Valmaggiore NewsVM SQ Morning light

Those of you who have had the opportunity to visit Valmaggiore understand what a wonderful and unique place it is.  Over the years, we have found that it is the one wine and vineyard that most people have difficulty understanding ... So we thought we would use this opportunity to briefly re-introduce you to it.  

 

Valmaggiore was a continuation of Luciano's absolute desire to make great Nebbiolo, even from outside the Barolo zone.  As you know, wines labeled "Barolo" have to come from within the delineated zone specified in the DOCG regulations.  But Nebbiolo also grows outside this zone - for example, in Barbaresco and in Roero.  The Valmaggiore vineyard is about 20 kms directly north of the Sandrone winery in the Roero zone, which is geographically and geologically distinct from the Barolo. 

 

The Valmaggiore vineyard, seen from the road below, seems to loom over the visitor; parts of the vineyard are almost 100% grade (45 degrees).  The soil is almost pure sand from beach deposits, made as northern Italy was pushed up about 5 million years ago and the shallow seas retreated.  The vines are planted very closely to encourage competition, deep root growth and to help hold the steep hillside up.  To haul the grapes out a harvest, we raise and lower a special aluminum sled attached to a cable on the tractor winch.  The sled holds ten picking crates per load and slides down the narrow corridors that divide the vineyard parcels.  Pictures of this will be posted as the harvest progresses on our website and facebook page.  We hope you visit us there to see the harvest up close.

 

Wines from Valmaggiore are completely different from Barolo, even though both are made from the Nebbiolo grape.  The sandy soil of the Roero lends the wine a lightness and elegance that is completely different from Barolo.  The Sandrone Valmaggiore bottling is reminiscent of a premier cru Burgundy in its weight and structure.

 

More information on the Valmaggiore vineyard can be found here on our website.

More information on all the Valmaggiore wines can be found here.

 

New at the Cantina & in the Vineyards 
Cantina Entrance SQ Night

 

We are pleased to announce that this year we have finalized agreements on two new pieces of vineyard land: 1.5 ha in the Baudana Cru of Serralunga d'Alba and 1.2 ha of the Villero Cru in Castiglione Falletto.  Both vineyards will be used to provide fruit for the Le Vigne Barolo bottling. 

 

Baudana is divided into two parts: a half-hectare portion on a gentle west-southwest slope planted with 35-40 year-old Nebbiolo vines, and a steep undeveloped hourglass-shaped hectare with perfect south exposure. The already-planted part is in excellent condition and this fruit will be used in the Le Vigne bottling beginning with this vintage. We will start drainage improvements this year on the undeveloped part and plant it next spring.  We expect that this part will become a truly great cru as the slope, exposure and terrain are stupendous.  The addition of this fruit into Le Vigne will add some of the characteristics of Serralunga d'Alba to that wine: structure, intense tannins and longevity.

LS Vines SQ

 

The Villero Cru in Castiglione Falletto is a famous vineyard and the chance to rent 1.2 ha of perfectly exposed and well-cared vines for long-term was unexpected, but we had to take advantage of this amazing opportunity.  The vines range from a small newer section that is 10-12 years old to an older section that we estimate is about 45 years old.  These are beautiful vines and their fruit will add complex aromas and midpalate richness to the Le Vigne Barolo.  

 

At the cantina itself, Luciano finally finished installing some racking for his personal wine collection - bottles he has bought or been given as gifts over the years.  There's a good bit of Burgundy, Mosel and Champagne down there.  Until a month ago, this room was unorganized stacks of boxes and crates.  Imagine his surprise when he found a bottle of his first vintage - 1978 - long-forgotten in a carton.  This is the only bottle of this vintage still at the winery!

Barolo resting in the Cantina
Tonneaux

Our Barolo spends at least 24 months in wooden casks and cannot be released until the beginning of the 4th calendar year after the vintage. So there is a good bit of wine down in our cellar! We do not use barriques here at Sandrone, instead Luciano prefers to use tonneaux (500 liter casks of French oak).   Also, the Barbera and Valmaggiore spend 12 months in wood. We use about 20% new wood on the Barolo, 50% new wood on the Barbera and only used casks for the Valmaggiore.

The 2010 and 2009 Barolo are still resting comfortably in their tonneaux and are developing nicely. The 2008 Barolo have been bottled and are awaiting release in September 2012. While it is impossible to talk about what the wines will specifically taste like when they are released in the future, we would like to tell you a bit about how the Barolo are developing.

2008: After a cool and damp summer the sun came out in September and the Nebbiolo fruit was able to ripen perfectly during the 7-week dry spell that ended just as we brought in the last grapes on October 25. The two Barolo put on weight and complexity during their two years in tonneaux, and were assembled and bottled early this year.  We expect the 2008 Barolo to be more classically styled, as they possess excellent acidity and ripe tannins around a core of perfectly mature fruit.

2009: The growing season was considerably warmer than in 2008, and the wines show a depth of perfume and fruit that is simply lovely.  The Barolo are still in cask and are taking on weight and depth.  These wines, at this stage in their life, remind us of the 1998s, an undervalued vintage of incredible finesse and depth.  These wines should be at their best between 10 and 15 years of age.

2010: A cool late August and early September gave us a long growing season and the resulting wines should be ones of depth and structure.  This vintage bears some similarity to 2006, where power, ripe fruit and longevity are combined to an incredible degree. The wines have only been in cask for 10 months and are rapidly developing in their tonneaux. Also, the Barbera has put on considerable weight and depth from the higher percentage of new wood, balancing the naturally high acidity of this grape nicely. The 2010 Valmaggiore is a delight - barrel tastings of this wine show the delicate and focused aromas so typical of Roero Nebbiolo. We will keep you updated on the development of these wines!
Barolo History
Cavour

 

The modern Italian Republic was founded March 17, 1861, and this year we have celebrated our sesquicentennial with parties, parades, fireworks, great food and of course, good wine.  LOTS of good wine.  In honor of the patriots who worked tirelessly to unify Italy, we have a short homage to one the Barolo's great historical figures: Camillo Cavour.  We raise our glasses to this towering figure of the Italian Unification!

 

Camillo Paolo Filippo Giulio Benso, Count of Cavour, August 10, 1810 - June 6, 1861.  Camillo Benso was born in Torino and is best known as the first Prime Minister of Unified Italy, under King Victor Emmanuel II.  He is also an important figure in the history of Barolo - he resided in the Castle of Grinzane Cavour for several years before entering politics full-time and helped modernize Piedmontese winemaking and agriculture.

 

Before Cavour turned his attention to wine, most of what we now know as "Barolo" was a sweet wine.  Because Nebbiolo ripens so late, it often stopped fermenting before reaching full dryness as the temperature dropped into late October and early November.  The wines then were much like Brachetto d'Aqui now: a slightly sweet red wine, sometimes with a bit of fizz from the juice starting to re-ferment in the bottle.

 

Cavour wanted a dry red wine.  He hired a famous French oenologist from Bordeaux, Louis Oudart, who experimented with the local varieties and was able to develop methods to ferment Nebbiolo to full dryness by concentrating on vineyard management, winery sanitation and hygiene.  The new, dry Nebbiolo was called "Barolo" after the main town of the region, where the Marquise Falletti was also experimenting along the same lines with the equally famous Italian oenologist Stagliano.  The new, dry and robust wine quickly became a favorite of the royal court in Turin and earned the nickname "The Wine of Kings, and the King of Wines."

 

Cavour returned to public life after the political upheavals of 1848 and spent his remaining years away from agriculture, in the public eye: as a Senator and then Minister of the Kingdom of Piedmont and Sardinia, feuding with Garibaldi, managing the political unification of Italy and finally becoming Prime Minister of the new Kingdom of Italy just a few weeks before his death in 1861.  He did not live to see Rome become the capital of Italy but his influence and importance are in evidence all over Italy - many towns and cities have a street or piazza named after him.  His contribution to the history of Barolo cannot be underestimated and he is one of the seminal early figures in the development of Barolo.  Without his early encouragement of better vineyard and winemaking practices, we would not know the wine we love today.  

 

Cheers Camillo!