Early spring was lovely. There was gentle rain, some fog, plenty of sun, and by Easter the buds were emerging, the first tender shoots sprouting and the vines coming to life. A regular and mostly even spring with relatively constant warmth and no excessive heat (but some caveats for the region as a whole, see below) meant the flowering was normal and complete by the first week of June. Now, as we look toward the approaching summer, our plants are healthy, the soil has sufficient water reserves and the growing season is on its way.

The cantina from the air.

Over the last three months we made trips to Paris, London, Moscow and the US, and received visitors from our importers and distributors worldwide, especially recently as the weather has warmed up.  

Luca in the vines

As the summer begins, Luca is very busy in the vines - this is his working time! The last of the vines were trained as they began to bud in April and first pruning of the flourishing vines is finishing now. More on these processes later in the newsletter.

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Barolo and La Morra

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

PS. For those of you that are receiving this the first time, we hope you enjoy our newsletter. We 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.

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Spring is always a delicate time; there is so much that can go wrong. Rain and wind at flowering can lead to shatter and uneven fruit set. Spring is the most common time for landslides as spring rains may exceed the ability of the soil to hold water (a few years ago we lost a good portion of the Rocche di San Nicola vineyard in Novello, cutting our Barbera crop by 20%). At worst, a late frost could kill the emerging buds. 

The 2011-2012 winter was extremely cold with good snow from the end of January onwards (see our last newsletter for complete description and photos). The spring had good rainfall and luckily it stayed cool after wet periods, inhibiting Peronospora (downy mildew). We have done 20% fewer treatments than normal to this point of the growing season.

Plants in low-lying areas where cold collects suffered not just during the harsh 8 weeks of snow and cold but also during the spring, as nights were cool though out the season. Even as late as May 17, there were scattered patches of frost in particularly low-lying vineyard sites (where vines should never have been planted in the first place, at the bottom of the valleys of the Tallòria dell'Annunziata and the Tallòria di Castiglione streams). Low-lying areas are particularly susceptible to late frosts as cold air is heavy and "flows" downhill, pooling dangerously in the low spots. Some of these vines exhibit classic frost damage, where the fruiting cane has died and new shoots have emerged from the base of the plant. This type of damage will take 2-3 years of careful pruning to remedy and for the plant to produce quality fruit. Luckily, we do not have such low-lying vineyard sites; ours are well up the hillside. Some of our neighbors at the base of the Cannubi hill were not so lucky and will have extensive repair work to do.

Another danger this time of year is Peronospora, or downy mildew.  This microbial vine parasite thrives when conditions are wet then followed by warmth. Most dangerous is rain followed by a burst of heat; downy mildew can spread across a whole vineyard in a matter of 2-3 days. This spring our rainstorms were followed by cool periods, generally around 7 or 8 degrees C and sometimes even cooler; this is too cold for the mildew to spread easily. Furthermore, the spring has been consistently breezy, drying out the leaves quickly. So far diseases have not been a problem.

Marian with wheelbarrow at Valmaggiore

So this year we have emerged unscathed and our plants are very healthy and flourishing. It's a relief to report nothing but good news for the growing conditions in our vineyards so far this spring. We hope for the same for the rest of the growing season.

In early spring we finished up the winter pruning. Mid-spring in Valmaggiore we did some fertilization with composted cow manure. Because of the steepness of the slope, the manure is brought in by tractor only to the end of the vine rows (and sometimes not even that close) and then brought in by hand in a wheel-barrow. This is very hard manual work but worth the effort as the Valmaggiore soils are sandy and poor - without a bit of fertilization every few years, the vines would suffer to the point of being unable to produce healthy fruit.  We want them to struggle and compete, but we don't want them to suffer. It's a delicate balance.

Digging in the manure in Valmaggiore

When fertilizing at Valmaggiore, a narrow trench is dug in the space between the rows by hand (no tractor can get between the rows at Valmaggiore; it is just too steep and narrow), then filled with composted dairy cow manure and backfilled with dirt from the trench being dug in the row above. We generally fertilize about 20% of the vineyard each season as the plants will be fine for 5 years between feedings. If spot fertilization is needed it's easy to do for a limited section of the vineyard. (How do we know when fertilization might be needed sooner than every 5 years?  We look at the way the leaves change color in the fall. Sections that go yellow/brown early and quickly - especially if the neighboring parts of the vineyard are still green - are typically in need of some nutrients.)

Eda training the vines at Valmaggiore

At the same time as the compost was being wheeled in, the end of the winter training was being finished - this last step is when we bend the fruiting cane over and tie it tight to the training wines. We have to wait for the warmer weather to do this work as the canes will snap and break before the sap is flowing freely. So we finished the cleaning work (described in the last newsletter; link here) during the cold months and waited for the cane 

bending until spring weather had warmed the plants sufficiently. A slideshow of the vine training and fertilization can be found here.

The middle of May we welcomed a visit of a contingent of people from our US importer Vintus for an educational visit in the vineyards and winery that finished with a lunch in the vines at Valmaggiore, the last stop of the day before the group left to visit our friends Schiopetto in Friuli. (If you don't know the wines of Schiopetto, please give them a try, especially the absolutely delicious whites: schiopetto.it.)

By the time our next newsletter goes out in September, five new wines will in the market:  

Dolcetto d'Alba 2011

Barbera d'Alba 2010

Barolo Cannubi Boschis 2008

Barolo "Le Vigne" 2008

Also these three Sibi e Paucis wines will be released:

Nebbiolo d'Alba "Valmaggiore" Sibi e Paucis 2006

Barolo Cannubi Boschis Sibi e Paucis 2004

Barolo Le Vigne Sibi e Paucis 2004

More info on the Sibi e Paucis releases can be found here.

Technical data and tasting notes for all wines including historical vintages can be found by following the above links to our website.  We will add professional reviews as they become available.

Links to your country's importer can be found here.

Of course, our most important and eagerly anticipated release are the two Barolo, and we think 2008 will be a wine for the ages. While the wine press has made much of the cool growing season, we remember the literally perfect harvest - 7 weeks of warm days, cool nights, no rain and intense sun that resulted in one of the best crops of grapes we had seen (remember, Nebbiolo shakes off wet growing conditions easily if it is followed by a warm, dry harvest period). The 2008 Barolos will be long-lived, more classically styled wines, with their firm, nervous acidity reflecting the long, cool-ish growing season and the ripe fruit showing the effects of this last 7 weeks of perfect sun and warmth, all framed by the velvety tannins that make Barolo so distinctive. Consumers who prefer "classic"-style vintages should love the 2008 wines.

Valmaggiore was somewhat warmer than in the Barolo, as is normal, but still shows the bracing structure of the cooler 2010 growing season. The fruit had ripened perfectly by the first week of October and we picked under ideal conditions. The first parcels were the warmest parts: the center and west-facing parts of the bowl, then the east side of the bowl, followed by the edges. The last fruit came in on the 20th of October.

New Release Spotlight on 2010 Valmaggiore.  

The 2010 vintage yielded wines of excellent structure and depth due to the long growing season that was never excessively hot. Even in Valmaggiore, where the temperature runs a few degrees warmer than in the Barolo, the vines never suffered from excessive heat and the sandy soil was replenished by the occasional rain shower.  In short, we had an excellent growing season and the fruit was harvested the second and third weeks of October. Fermentation and aging went perfectly and the wine reflects the vintage and terroir with great precision.

Cantina Tasting Note:

Lovely medium garnet red color, which reminds us of the exceptional 2006 and 2009. In the nose and the palate, a harmonious blend of red fruits, cassis, pomegranate and rose petals. It has good structure in the mouth where a nice minerality emerges in the midpalate, followed by a long, smooth, sweet finish. The wine possesses length and elegance and will require some patience to reach its peak. This is an elegant style of Nebbiolo that illustrates the huge potential of wines from the Roero region.