As November comes to a close and the days shorten, we can finally take a deep breath and relax a bit ... the harvest and vinification are complete. The last tank of macerating Nebbiolo was racked off the skins on November 20 (surprised? read on!) and we are very happy with the preliminary results. The last big tasting events of the year are done and we look forward to a bit of relaxing over the Christmas break.

Looking toward the Monte Viso over Monforte vineyards.

Here in the Barolo, the air is crisp and clear in the mornings, and the snowcapped Alps are visible on the Italian-French border. Some mornings, from our hilltop vineyard of Pe Mol, we can see all the way to the Monte Rosa and the Matterhorn (Cervino in Italian), 150 kms to the north. It is a lovely time of year, and we have not had as much rain and fog as usual - so we enjoy every short, remaining day of sun.

Please scroll down for a complete report on the 2012 autumn harvest and vinification. 

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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

Fall color, looking south toward the Maritime Alps

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The heat broke in Barolo with a 4-day rainshower that gently replenished the groundwater beginning the 31st of August. While we had had several big thunderstorms (and two hailstorms in late July) during the summer, all of these were brief and intense and the precipitation tended to run off into the streams, not penetrate into the ground. So the late August rain was very welcome, offering some relief to the plants, which were beginning to exhibit some heat stress. 

Ravera Cru, early October

Also with the rain, nighttime temperatures cooled consistently. Unlike 2011, when the September night temperatures never dropped significantly during the harvest, 2012 showed good day-night temperature differential, allowing a long, even maturation. A second, shorter rainstorm in mid-September gave us some trouble with the Dolcetto harvest, requiring additional bunch-by-bunch cleaning during the picking.

Luca in Cannubi

The first small load of Dolcetto to make the pied de cuvée was picked on September 9. We brought the first full load of Dolcetto in on September 11 and had finished all the Docletto by the 22nd. Barbera was picked between September 25 and October 2. Valmaggiore was picked in three marathon days October 6-7-8. The Valmaggiore vineyard is our largest single piece of vineyard property and we are more accustomed to it ripening over the course of a week, picking each parcel separately as it reaches perfect maturity. This year, the even ripening during September lead to everything being ready at the same time. The wine will be exceptional!

Ivan and Simona in Viller0

Nebbiolo for Barolo began with Merli on the 3rd of October; we then picked Vignane, Villero, Baudana and Cannubi Boschis. Nebbiolo can suffer through cold and damp conditions easily - it is heat that makes it suffer. This year the heat was relatively normal; we had about 3 weeks in August. The critical September ripening period was perfect for Nebbiolo: warm, sunny days, cool nights and gentle breezes. We finished harvesting the 14th of October, and Luciano is very happy with the results.

This vintage was our second at both Villero in Castiglione Falletto and Baudana in Serralunga d'Alba - and thus was the first year we had control of these vines for the entire year, not just the complete growing season. We prefer this as it allows us to perform the critical winter pruning (more on this porcess can be found in our March 2012 newsletter). Luciano says that bad cuts

Luca in Villero

from pruning require 2-3 years for the plant to recover; for this reason only Luciano, Luca and a few other highly experienced employees make the pruning cuts. This year, Villero showed incredible quality with beautiful ripeness and perfume. In Baudana, we harvested the upper section and are very happy with the results; the grapes had terrific tannins, very typical of Serralunga, and were very ripe. We are eagerly waiting for the newly-planted vines on the steep lower section to mature and provide what we think will be incredible structure and tannins (typically we wait for 5-7 years before using the fruit of newly-planted vines for our Barolo). Both of these sites are used for the Barolo Le Vigne, and the addition of these storied vineyards will change the wine into something even better than before. Look for the changes beginning with the wines from the 2011 vintage.

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: 201o Valmaggiore. 

The 2010 harvest yielded wines of uncommon poise and structure, the result of a long, cooler growing season and well-timed rains. In the Roero, the Nebbiolo shows more density and structure than most years, and the added weight is a surprise to those consumers used to a lighter, more elegant wine. This is a Valmaggiore that will require a few years of cellaring to reach is top potential, and we have every expectation that this will eventually be known as one of our most long-lived Valmaggiore wines.

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. Drink 2015-2022.

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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.

Only 1500 bottles of each of the three Nebbiolo-based wines is kept back for the Sibi et Paucis program, and most are allocated to restaurant wine lists. If you see the metallic stamp on a bottle, you know that the wine spent 4 years in Luciano's personal library cellar.

Sibi et Paucis Spotlight on 

2006 Valmaggiore Nebbiolo d'Alba

The 2006 vintage was a classic one with a long, temperate growing season, resulting in wines of defined tannins and excellent structure. Valmaggiore is always a few degrees warmer than the Barolo, and the wine shows the gorgeous aromatics that are characteristic of the terroir and warmth. The nose shows good red and black berries, cherries, rose petal and cola nut. In the mouth, the excellent acidity plays off the defined fruit. The ripe tannins are more prominent than in most Valmaggiore bottlings and are long and dry. The wine finishes with a note of red fruits and black tea leaves. Drink 2012-2018.