Nebbiolo in Baudana, June 2012 (before veraison)

Summer is a sweet and warm time in the Langhe hills. Here in Barolo, on the little hill at the bottom of the valley, the castle sparkles in the deep sun and the vines thrive on their hillsides. It seems that every week there is a different village or hamlet festival - each one an opportunity to reconnect with friends old and new.

 

Though the setting is idyllic, the work continues! Over the summer, we bottled the 2011 Dolcetto, and prepared the new releases for shipping in September. The spring gave us a good foundation for the plants to work from (see our June Newsletter) and the summer has been generally normal, though Mother Nature never makes it easy. It has been hot and dry for the last few weeks and plants in the best-situated sites (facing south and southwest) are beginning to suffer a bit. Some much-needed gentle rainshowers arrived the 31st of August which has helped revive the plants in time for the harvest in a few weeks! We are looking forward to the cooler temperatures of September. 

Sunset over Monte Viso as seen from Bussia, July 2012

However, summer does mean some sitting around and thus requires patience ... which means that we can take a bit of time off. Luciano and Mariuccia went to the US with grandkids Alessia and Stefano. Barbara took time off to visit friends and go hiking. Luca did his annual circumnavigation ("giro") of the Monte Viso (we consider the Monte Viso to be "our" mountain here in Piedmont), and spent a lot of time on his bicycle. Almost every employee was able to visit family or get a break; a bit of much-needed time to recharge and refuel for the autumn picking and vinification as well as the onslaught of tourists we get in September-October-November during the Truffle Festival in Alba.

Bottling the 2011 Dolcetto; Flora feeding bottles into the filling machines.

 

As this newsletter goes to press, we are feeling recharged and excited to begin the most important part of the year, and looking forward to a great harvest. This morning everyone was buzzing about, cleaning equipment and organizing in preparation for the arrival of the first Dolcetto (perhaps mid-September?). We will update you on the harvest in our December Newsletter.

 

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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. 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, as described in our June Newsletter, was a bit ahead of schedule and alternated some wet and warm periods, requiring vigilance for peronospora and oidium. The summer started off warm with occasional rain showers, but never too hot other than a week of 30C+ in early July. We maintained our regular spraying and treatment schedule of only copper and sulfur to combat vine diseases, mold and mildew.

 

As we have mentioned in other newsletters, we only use the absolute minimum necessary when spraying and never augment the basics with chemical pesticides, fertilizers or disease treatments of any sort. Luciano strongly believes in maintaing a natural, healthy balance in the vines that best suits both the plants and the vineyard workers. For this reason he uses only levels of copper and sulfur as allowed under organic practices, though he has never sought certification. As Luciano says, he does it for the health of his vines and his employees, not for marketing.

Labeling Barbera for export, June 2012

 

A summer in Barolo would not be normal without difficulties, and this year so far we have had two localized hailstorms in the Barolo zone, both accompanied by intense rain. The first hit the third week of July for about 10 minutes of scattered hail, coming from the southwest and moving northeast. Luckily our Nebbiolo vineyards were not damaged, but we did suffer some losses at our small Dolcetto plantings in Sant Anna of Monforte d'Alba. While this is not a particularly large site, there will be a bit less fruit from the vineyard in the 2012 Dolcetto. A second small hailstorm the first week of August came from the same direction and damaged the same vineyards, with a bit of damage in some of the Nebbiolo vines as well. Luckily, the vintage so far is supporting a relative abundance of fruit, so we do not expect total production to be off. (We go into more detail on dealing with hail later in the newsletter.)

Tractor with Sprayer - this was used after every rain.

 

Locally, the big news is a few of the intense thunderstorms we had in late July and early August - we call it a "temporale" here. If you look at the rainfall data, you'd think we have had a wet, wet year, but the opposite is true! Most of the summer rainfall arrived in intense, short bursts of precipitation; this water runs off the hills before it can penetrate the ground. 

 

Soils here in the Barolo are primarily clay, compact and resistant to quick soaking - so the hard rains tend to run off, filling the streams but giving little to the soil. The biggest difficulty of these sudden showers is that they demand extra work because they effectively clean the leaves of treatments - we were out spraying copper and sulfur on the vines after every rainstorm to make sure we kept diseases and mildew under control.

 

One quick, hard storm this summer had water lapping at the underside of the little bridge (almost 2 meters deep!) near the winery at its most intense - but 45 minutes later the torrent was reduced to a trickle. That was a rain that did not penetrate into the soil. Even if you dug more than 10 centimeters deep after that rain you were digging in dry powder - the water did not penetrate. Indeed, most of the annual crops in the Langhe dried out this year - huge losses of wheat, sunflowers and corn. Deep-rooted plants like vines and trees did much better, as the groundwater reserves kept the deeper soil damp.

 

On the other hand, we had a more gentle, longer rainstorm from the 31st of August until the 4th of September - a long, gentle soak that replenished some of the groundwater. Though it is too late to save the corn and sunflowers, we hope this gives a kick-start to the truffles!

Veraison: Nebbiolo changing from green to black July 2012

 

Otherwise, it has been an essentially normal summer, thank goodness. Veraison was the last week of July and first week of August. Until the middle of August, temperatures were decently cool at night, slowing ripening considerably - the early-season advance from the heat at the middle of May was significantly reduced - Luciano estimated on the 15th of August that we are at normal or at most a week ahead of normal (in the warmest sites).

 

Since mid-August, we've had the normal, expected heat (these are our dog days) but the day-night temperature differential never faded like it did last year at this time (in 2011 it stayed hot, day and night, well into late September). A cooling front came through the last weekend in August and since then the first hints of autumn are in the air. We notice the vine leaves beginning to yellow at the edges as photosynthesis slows. As we walk through the vineyards, examining and tasting the fruit, we notice the grape seeds are turing deep brown and the tannins are ripening. Nature is doing its work.

 

We are hoping for a relatively normal harvest based on where the year has brought us this far. Of course, the last 6-8 weeks of the growing season are the most critical, especially for Nebbiolo, and everything might change. We will have a full report on the harvest and winemaking in our December 2012 newsletter!

 

Baudana September 2012.

 

Lastly, we want to let you know that the new planting at Baudana rooted in perfectly and came through the heat and dryness with flying colors. We are really happy with the progress of the vines. The picture above was taken the first week of September, and one can clearly see the hourglass-shaped vineyard just below the hamlet. The new vines are a considerably lighter green than the mature plantings around them. We expect the vines to need 5-7 years until the fruit is qualitatively ready to use in the Barolo Le Vigne.

 

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Hooray! Our 2012 wine releases are now 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 have just been 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 is always 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.

 

Our 2010 Barbera is a rich, structured wine, full of deep fruit, with smooth, bracing tannins from the new wood and the characteristic bright acidity of this vine. Though Barbera loves heat and sun, and typically does best in hot vintages such as 2003, 2009 and 2011, we were able to achieve great fruit ripeness by being a bit more aggressive in our green harvest this year. The remaining fruit ripened and concentrated beautifully, resulting in a wine that has 4-6 years further ageing potential. The wine spent 12 months in 50% new oak that helped soften the characteristic fresh acid. Fans of structured Barbera (as opposed to the "fruit-bomb" style, which has never been our thing) will love this wine and it will go especially well with rich winter dishes such as roasts, polenta and risotto.

 

New Release Spotlight on 2011 Dolcetto.  

The 2011 harvest got underway about 10 days early when we brought the first crates of Dolcetto in during the first week of September. We had to pick fast: the heat that began the first week of August had not let up and the sugar levels in the fruit were rising daily. Nor were the evenings cooling off to help us - it stayed consistently hot throughout the Dolcetto harvest. As a result, we brought in the crop in 3 days, a very fast harvest.

 

The 2011 Dolcetto shows the results of the warmth we had at the end  of the season in its forward, engaging personality and bright floral and fruit core. It has sufficient acidity to balance the forward fruit (before the heat, we had an unusually cool June and July, leading to a good acid foundation), but this is a wine to be enjoyed now and over the next 2-3 years. The tannins round out the wine nicely and give it excellent length and focus.

 

Cantina Tasting Note:

(Pre-bottling tank sample): Intense red-purple with evident notes of violet. The nose offers a fruit-forward bouquet of cherries and berries. In the mouth spicy pepper and licorice flavors, balanced with a slight almond note. The finish is of finely textured tannins of good persistence. This is a perfect everyday wine: immensely enjoyable and needing no point other than to be consumed with gusto. Try with grilled barbecue or tomato-based ragu on pasta. Drink now-2015

 

 

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Along with the current releases, we have just released the new group of "Sibi et Paucis" wines in September 2012:

 

2006 Valmaggiore,

2004 Barolo Le Vigne  

2004 Barolo Cannubi Boschis.

 

The Sibi et Paucis program is our library re-release program (not a riserva wine) and more information can be found here on our website.

The newly-released bottles; both the regular and Sibi et Paucis bottlings for the 3 Nebbioli: 2006 and 2010 Valmaggiore; 2004 and 2008 Le Vigne; 2004 and 2008 Cannubi Boschis.

Each newsletter has a spotlight on one of the different Sibi et Paucis releases.

 

Sibi et Paucis Spotlight on

2004 Le Vigne Barolo  

Luciano describes 2004 as one of the best vintages of the last decade, and the wines from this year show the beautifully classic and long-lived structure that is characteristic of the year. The growing season was long and easy, the wines show great depth and complexity and the potential longevity is tremendous.

 

The 2004 Le Vigne subtly reaches out of the glass and seduces you with aromas of black cherries and subtle stonefruits, with notes of cola and violets. The aromas are beginning to show secondary aromas of leather, mushroom and dried rose petals, but the focus is still on primary flavors and aromas - this wine has years of life ahead of it. It is possible that magnums stored in impeccable dark and cold cellar conditions (50F; 10C) have the potential to last more than 30 years. 

 

The palate is a study of balances between the firm acidity and tannins and the subtle and sweet fruit. The oak never jumps out front and adds polish to the gorgeously structured and long mid palate.  The finish still has unevolved but ripe tannins and will reward additional patience. Drink 2016-2025+

 

 

Tonneax in the Ageing Cellar.

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 20-25% new wood on the Barolo, up to 50% new wood on the Barbera and only used casks for the Valmaggiore.

The 2010 and 2011 Barolo are resting comfortably in their tonneaux and are developing nicely. The 2009 Barolo were bottled in December and January and have been moved to the storage cellar where the bottles will rest until September of 2013 when they are released. While it is impossible to talk about what the wines still in wood 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.

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 resting after being bottled in December and January. These wines, at this stage in their life, remind us of the 1998s, an undervalued vintage of incredible finesse and depth. (For more general information on the Barolo 1998 vintage, John Gilman wrote a great article on it in the March/April 2009 issue (#20) of his e-magazine "View from the Cellar" (subscription required)).  These wines should be at their best between 10 and 15 years of age. They also remind us of the 2007s, but with a touch less acidity.

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 potential longevity are combined to an incredible degree. The wines have been in cask for 21 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 (it gets up to 50% new tonneaux), balancing the naturally high acidity of this grape nicely. The 2010 Valmaggiore is a delight - tastings of this wine show the delicate and focused aromas so typical of Roero Nebbiolo. These latter two wines have just been released.

2011: The wines have been in cask for 10 months and are coming along nicely. Malolactic fermentation finished by late January. The Dolcetto, which is aged only in steel, shows delightful fruit and perfume, reflecting the more forward personality of the harvest. This wine was bottled in June and has just been released. Valmaggiore and Barbera also show good fruit and a more forward structure; these wines will be bottled in December of this year. The warm Cannubi site gave us grapes that embody the best attributes of the season: amazing perfume of strawberries, cherries and fresh roses with beautiful ripe fruit in the mouth. A big surprise is Le Vigne, which has changed somewhat due to a switch of the component vineyards: we gave up our long-term leases on Conterni and Cerretta in the commune of Monforte, and added the Villero vineyard from Castiglione, which adds mid-palate richness and structure, and the Upper Baudana planting from Serralunga, which adds great tannic structure to the wine. We have very high expectations for this wine, and the addition of the Serralunga fruit should make it even more age-worthy. The wine shows deep, penetrating aromas of black fruits and licorice and has incredible presence in the mouth. This wine truly embodies the old Barolo adage of the "iron fist in the velvet glove."

We will keep you updated on the development of these wines!

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Newsletter: Copyright 2012 Sandrone Luciano Azienda Agricola, Via Pugnane 4, 12060 Barolo (CN) Italy

Text: Copyright 2012 Vintagespec, Inc. Used by permission.

Photos: "Cannubi panorama landscape" header and "5 bottles" Copyright Davide Dutto.

"Hail 2002" photos Copyright Sandrone Luciano Barolo

All other Photographs: Copyright 2005-2012 Vintagespec Inc.

Used by permission.

Reproductions of text and images from various wine publications, events and critics used in this newsletter are made under "Fair Use" provisions of Copyright law.