March, April and early May 2013 have been some of the coldest, wettest and most difficult we have seen since the early 1990s. January and February (as described in our March newsletter) were cold with good snow, helping replenish the groundwater supplies that were severely compromised in the summer and fall of 2012. Clear, warm and sunny weather finally arrived the second half of May and we are carefully nurturing our young vine shoots to insure a healthy and successful flowering and bunch development.

Morning light on the Alps from Monforte,  on a clear day in early spring.

In early March, as we prepared for "Trade Show Travel Months" (Prowein, VinItaly, Summa, ViniVeri, Festa del Barolo, Grandi Langhi, Nebbiolo Prima, Asta del Barolo, Vinexpo, etc., etc.), the near-continuous gentle rain seemed like a gift after the parched conditions that persisted from July to December of last year. Everyone remembers the vegetables, wheat and corn on the valley floors and in the Piedmontese plain that died and turned completely brown by mid-August 2012 for lack of water. It seemed like the skies were giving back something for what they had failed to deliver the previous fall.

But by early May, when the rain and cold still had not let up ... well, let's just say that we are ready to skip right to balmy summer weather. Many of us still had the heat on in our homes into late May; nobody has yet put away their winter coats. On May 15th we heard reports that Bossolasco and the hills of the Alta Langa had received snow. 

What does the rain mean in practical terms? It makes vineyard word difficult and dangerous. However, Luciano and Luca's efforts in the vineyards have insured that our early growth and cluster formations have remained disease-free and are thriving under their attentive care.  More on this below in the "2013 Spring" article.

Finally in the last few weeks, the weather has cleared and we have entered the critical flowering period with good weather and healthy plants, thanks to the efforts of Luca and Luciano in the vineyards. More below!

Top: The péléton arrives at Barolo; Bottom: Giro leaders start up the Cannubi Hill

One of the nicer days this spring coincided with the Giro d'Italia passing through the Langhe. The péléton passed about 500 meters from the Cantina Sandrone on the main Alba-Barolo road as it began its climb up the Cannubi hill and on towards Vergne, then down the hill to Narzole and the eventual finish in Cherasco. A few of us walked down to cheer on the cyclists - a nice, brief and sunny break. Luca, an avid bicyclist, worked from dawn until about 3pm at our Merli vineyard in Novello, then changed into his cycling clothes in the vineyard van (he had also brought his bicycle with him) and made his way to see the race go by the Castello della Volta near Vergne.

In other news, work in the winery (and life) continues. We continue to be grateful for and humbled by the continued interest in our wines. We are so incredibly thankful for the people all around the world that support our work and family by enjoying our wines! Finally, we are looking forward to the next release of wines in September, highlighted by the new 2009 Barolo vintages, which are beautifully perfumed, richly endowed, forward & bright - perfect wines to enjoy at a younger age than the forbidding 2008s and 2010s, which require patience.

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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 

Luca with Giro d'Italia rider.

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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As we mentioned above, it has been a cold, wet, damp and difficult early spring. All over Europe winemakers (and farmers in general) have reported that the growing season is anywhere from 2-4 weeks behind its usual schedule. In addition to the rain, we have already had several small hailstorms - distressingly early! Here in the Barolo we estimate the grapes are about 10-15 days behind (depending on the location) and we are working doubly hard as the vines move into the critical flowering period to make sure the plants are heathy and have growing room. Too much rain during this period could ruin the entire crop, so we have been thinning the early cane growth and excess leaves to allow for air circulation and better effects of the copper and sulfur treatments to combat peronospora.

Rain in the Cantina courtyard, mid-April.

Already here in the region, most of the flowering in the local fruit trees (cherries, peaches, apricots, plums, etc.) has been ruined by the excessive early spring rain. Cherries are especially common here (they grow wild in the forests) and the driving rain during the cherry blossoms in April all but ruined this year's crop. There is a week, typically in early April, when the forests turn literally white from the sea of cherry blossoms - and this year all the delicate flowers were battered to the ground by the intense precipitation. No fresh cherries this year!

Cannubi hill with poppies

Only the poppy flowers have been great this year - they have literally run rampant in any unplowed field. Their bright bursts of deep red punctuate many a day.

Vines flower much later and with the delayed spring they were just beginning to form their flower clusters in late May. We hoped that the weather would clear for a safe and complete flowering. Since mid-May we have begun to see more days of sun and clear weather, so we are cautiously optimistic ... Fingers crossed, knock on wood, or in the local expression: "Tocca Ferro!"

Finally a few weeks ago the weather cleared and we only had one light rainshower Sunday afternoon 10 days ago, and this week, as the flowering continues, we have dry and sunny conditions forecast. This is great news for us! The humidity is still high, so we are doubly vigilant for the outbreak of diseases, and are making sure that the treatments we do in the vines are timed for maximum efficiency and effectiveness (we use only sulfur and copper as are allowed under organic farming practices, no chemical pesticides or fungicides). So far Luca has managed the plants in such a way that we have seen no outbreaks of disease in the vineyards, and his crew's continued vigilance has insured healthy, thriving vines with good flower formations.

Finally better weather has arrived!

A key component of early-season vineyard management is the training of the plants to grow upright on the trellising, and to allow for maximum air circulation. This helps plant heath by allowing sun and air to reach all the growth equally, and allows the sprayed treatments to do the same. From the main fruiting cane (the 2 year-old cane that is bent over and tied every year in winter/spring to the horizontal wires) we allow a single new cane to emerge from each of the buds, and each of these new canes will carry one bunch of grapes. We clip back any excessive growth (for example, two shoots per bud is cut back to one) so as to concentrate the vine's energy into the fruit and not into excess vegetation. With all the rain, the vegetation is like a jungle in unpruned vineyards. We prune back to insure the healthiest vines and for the best disease resistance.

A sunny morning with  Luciano on the tractor.

The early rain and wet in March and April also made work in the vineyards dangerous: we couldn't use the tractors (they can tip over on the unstable ground) and thus had do more work by hand - including the supremely necessary spraying against peronospera and oidium, two diseases that can run rampant in damp weather. Luckily it had been a bit too cool for peronospera, which has difficulty establishing itself at temperatures below 12C. But as the weather warmed we were vigilant and Luca and his crew have been out on every available clear day either spray with copper and sulfur to protect the delicate young plants or to train the vines. We use backpack-mounted spray tanks to walk through the vineyards and treat the plants - but this takes a much longer time than working with the tractor-mounted sprayer, and is hard work on the slippery, muddy and unstable ground.  

Another great danger with excessive rain is the possibility of landslides. Our soil is mostly clay with sand and if the ground loses its ability to absorb water the clay acts more like a lubricant than glue, leading to slips and landslides.

left: Cracks in the soil are the first indications that an area is becoming unstable and may be in danger of a landslide. 

right: Cracks deepen in a hazelnut grove near Panerole.

Ravine collapse next to the  Barolo-Monforte road in the San Pietro area.

The spring of 2009 was also wet and saw great damage from landslides - the road between Castiglione Falletto and Monforte d'Alba was blocked for a week by a vineyard in the Bussia Zone that collapsed on to the road. Spring 2009 we lost a significant portion of the Rocca di San Niccola vineyard in Novello (where we source a part of our Barbera d'Alba) when the whole thing simply slid over the edge of the tall cliff into the ravine below. This vineyard was impossible to repair and remains dangerous; we have not replanted the damaged section.

Early April pruning and vine training in Valmaggiore

We took advantage of every workable day to get out in the vines and do the necessary training and care of the young vines. With all the March and April rain, the vines have grown quickly and vigorously. So Luca and his crew are out every available moment to do the necessary and critical work in the vineyards to insure the quality of the fruit for the upcoming harvest - whether it be late afternoons just to take advantage of a few extra hours of daylight, on Saturdays and even Sundays, or simply getting up earlier to be in the vines with first light on good days. As they say, "when the sun shines, make hay."

By mid-February (as described in our March Newsletter) the new wines had completely finished their malolactic fermentations (malo, for short) and Luciano had brought the ambient cellar temperature back down to its usual 12C. Since then, has has left the wines alone, letting them rest peacefully in their tonneaux.

Dolcetto 2012, knitting together in tank. It will be bottled in July.

The exception is the Dolcetto, which is vinified and aged for release the year after the vintage. As we want the wine to be bright, fresh, lively and drinkable, the malo and ageing is only in stainless steel tanks - we do not use wood for the Dolcetto. As soon as malo is finished, we rack the wine off the lees to a clean tank for a few more weeks of aging. Dolcetto soaks up oxygen and so to avoid reduction requires a few more rackings in comparison to Nebbiolo or Barbera. By mid-March Luciano was happy with the wine's progress, and after analysis and tasting of all the aging tanks, he assembled the final wine in a single tank from all the constituent parts. The wine is currently in the big steel tanks in the fermentation room after having been thoroughly mixed into a single batch. We want the wine to be consistent from the first bottle to the last, so it is very important that we allow the wine time together as a single cuvée! Just before bottling, we will return the wine to the single large tank and bottle it all in a single shot from a single tank, thus insuring consistent quality at the highest level possible. The Dolcetto 2012 will be bottled in June for release on September 1, 2013. 

Tractor maintenance by Andrea.

With all the wet and rain in February-March-April we have spent extra time in the cantina prepping orders, doing maintenance and repair of the machinery and equipment, tending the cantina gardens, organizing the cellars and storage areas, and cleaning, cleaning, cleaning! Luciano hates wasted time, so he always has a list of long-term and "rainy day" projects to keep us busy! Now that the weather has finally cleared up and we have warmth and sun, we are out in the vines every day!

These new wine releases will be in the market worldwide in September:

 Dolcetto d'Alba 2012

 Barbera d'Alba 2011

 Barolo Cannubi Boschis 2009

 Barolo "Le Vigne" 2009

Also the three new Sibi e Paucis wines will be released in September:

 Nebbiolo d'Alba "Valmaggiore" Sibi e Paucis 2007 

 Barolo Cannubi Boschis Sibi e Paucis 2005 

 Barolo Le Vigne Sibi e Paucis 2005 

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 2009 is a vintage to relish, one in which nature gave us wines to pleasure, delight and enrapture. While the wine press has made much of the warm growing season, claiming that no greatness could emerge from the 2009 conditions, we remember that the vintage and its wines bear many similarities to 2007, which was perhaps one of the most lauded and drinkable vintages of recent memory. Let's just say that those of us working on the ground experienced something different than what might be described in the wine press. Like another undervalued but excellent vintage, we think the 2009s will be similar to the 1998s in development and ageability.

Our 2009s are wines to enjoy - the vintage is very different from the steely, unyielding 2008, 2006s or 1999s, but has charm, graciousness and displays a generosity of spirit that is a rare and unique quality in Barolo. We suspect that some vintners were overly aggressive in their summer green harvests which left a distinct lack of freshness when they were thus forced to pick earlier, which led to some of the negative impressions of the vintage. Luca managed the vineyards for a complete vegetative cycle with a long "hang time" which led to perfect, balanced ripeness. Thus we picked well into October - many of our neighbors were done picking by the last week of September.

The 2009 Sandrone Barolos are wines of charm and grace. While they do not have the puckering tannins of the more classically-styled 2008 and 2006s, these are wines that will be enjoyable earlier in their life - probably ready to enjoy at about 5-6 years after the vintage, and should age well for 12 or 15 years afterwards. 

At Sandrone, we always make a wine that reflects the conditions of the growing season, and 2009 was definitely warmer in comparison to 2008. 2009 Barolos are wines of generous, forward fruit, with exceptional perfume and aromatic complexity. However, the 2009s also show a bit better freshness and minerality than the highly-regarded 2007s, which we see as a positive development. These are perfect wines to enjoy early in their life, not ones that require 15-20 years of patience. 

The Valmaggiore area is always somewhat warmer than in the Barolo, as is normal, and the 2011 still shows the opulent fruit from the warm end to the growing season. The fruit had ripened perfectly by the last week of September and we picked parcel-by-parcel under ideal conditions. The first parcels were obviously from 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 8th of October.

Our 2011 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 species. Barbera loves heat and sun, and typically does best in hot vintages such as 2003, 2009 and 2011. The fruit on the vine ripened and concentrated beautifully, resulting in a wine that has 4-8 years further ageing potential. The wine spent 12 months in 40% 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 style) will love this wine and it will go especially well with rich winter dishes such as roasts, polenta and risotto.

The  2012 Dolcetto d'Alba is simply delightful, if that's not too presumptuous to say. The growing season is reflected perfectly in a generous, open wine of a simple but embracing personality, all fruit and perfume up front, but with good, fresh acidity and a vibrant, racy finish. 

New Release Spotlight: 2009 Cannubi Boschis  

The 2009 vintage was variable and challenging, but in the end we are extremely satisfied with the results of our efforts. Like 2007, bud break and flowering were extremely early (by about 3 weeks in 2009; 4 weeks in 2007). Unlike 2007, we had good precipitation and snow during the winter and so our groundwater reserves were normal. After the initial early burst of high heat before Easter the weather retuned to the mean, and we enjoyed normal conditions through the middle of the summer. In effect, the fruit development went along at a normal pace, simply 3 weeks ahead of schedule. We enjoyed some opportune rain in gentle showers in June and July that helped alleviate any minor threat of hydric stress. Around the first week of August, the usual summer heat arrived and continued though the harvest. The growing conditions were so good that through the end of July we had made significantly fewer than the usual number of treatments on the vines - they were healthy and thriving.

Luca avoided making any significant green harvesting until after the veraison, at which time he only pruned out bunches that had not changed color completely and evenly - a reduction of fruit load which helped us balance the vegetative cycle during the warm month of August that continued into early September (he also reduced leaf thinning, allowing more vegetation than in cooler years, thus helping shade the plants). As Luciano and Luca had not cut back too much in green harvests, we were able to leave our fruit on the vine for a longer time which helped result in dramatically better tannin ripeness and acid development. We harvested the Cannubi Boschis vineyard between October 8 and 14, making our usual strict selection in the vineyards.

Cantina Tasting Note:

Dark red color with hints of purple. Fat ripe black cherries on the expansive, generous nose, lush and forward fruit with hints of vanilla, spices and clove. In the mouth, the fruit is forward and ripe but not jammy, kept in harmony by the subtle yet firm acidity. It has good attack on the palate, and the mouthfeel is creamy, chocolately and soft with menthol notes. This wine shows the warm Cannubi Boschis terroir to great advantage. The tannins are very sweet and long, but will still require some patience to soften. Though it is more forward and ready than its sibling the Le Vigne Barolo, it still needs a few years of time (2-4 years). Finish is long and sweet with oak & spice notes over the black cherries and black fruits.  

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Along with the new current releases, we will release the new group of "Sibi et Paucis" wines in September 2013:

2007 Valmaggiore,

2005 Barolo Le Vigne  

2005 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.

Both the regular and Sibi et Paucis bottlings for the 3 Nebbioli: 2007 and 2011 Valmaggiore; 2005 and 2009 Le Vigne;  2005 and 2009 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 are 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 

2005 Barolo Le Vigne

2005 was a curious, variable growing season that gave us wines of elegance and harmony, with dry, chalky ripe tannins and excellent freshness and presence. The winter and spring were dry and temperatures were uneven, leading to an irregular bud break. The vintage continued with good weather in June and July until torrential rains hit in mid-August - which relieved the hydric stress but made vineyard activities stressful as we worked double shifts to prevent disease outbreaks. Luckily gentle winds helped keep the fruit dry and damage was minimal. We were able to harvest much of the fruit before the rains arrived the first week of October and the resulting wine is one that honestly reflects the challenging grown season in a very positive way. As usual, our extremely strict selection process resulted only in ripe, heathy berries arriving at the cantina. We were very happy with the initial results and the wine has developed positively in bottle.

Cantina Tasting Note:

A tight nose of dark fruits and black cherries with graphite and cedar box, hints of vanilla and dark chocolate emerges from the glass. On the palate, vanilla, chocolate and cassis combine with layers of fruit, acid and ripe tannins. It has a full-bodied mouthfeel and this wine will need a few more years to reach its maturity plateau. Though the velvety tannins are still quite tight, this is a ripe and balanced Le Vigne. It has a good finish, with very fine and linear tannins, good length and balance.

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From the Critics:

Wine Advocate: 94 points. #182, Apr 2009
The 2005 Barolo Le Vigne opens with fresh, high-toned aromas that meld into a core of perfumed red fruits. There is notable vibrancy to the fruit, and although the 2005 is a relatively small-scaled vintage for this wine, the balance is exceptional. The Le Vigne has more than enough fruit to follow through all the way to the close, where notes of raspberry jam offer a final burst of intensity. Le Vigne is made from a number of parcels in Vignane (Barolo), Conterni and Ceretta (Monforte) and Merli (Novello). In 2005 the harvest took place in the first two weeks of October. The wines were vinified separately, then racked into 500-liter barrels. The final blend was assembled in the summer of 2006. Every year I taste through the various parcels separately and every year I am amazed by the way the final blend transcends the quality of the individual wines. Simply put, Le Vigne is a gem of a wine from Luciano Sandrone. Anticipated maturity: 2011-2021.

IWC/ Ian d'Agata: 94 Points, Feb 11, 2011, Le Vigne Vertical Report
Full, deep red-ruby.  Perfumed, nuanced nose offers pretty sour red cherry, raspberry and violet notes complicated by an intense spiciness that is textbook nebbiolo.  Dense and sweet, but with lovely vinosity giving shape to the penetrating flavors of dark cherry, dried flowers and mint.  Finishes bright and very long, with serious but smooth tannins and wonderful acid balance.  A spicy, pure nebbiolo that shows just how good the best 2005 Barolos can be.  Sandrone harvested the grapes for Le Vigne between October 1 and 15, which means that at least some of the grapes were picked after the October rains that spelled trouble for so many other producers in the area, but he has always maintained that his attentive, painstaking vineyard work allowed him to pick fully ripe grapes while avoiding rot. 

Wine Spectator: 92 points. Issue Jul 31, 2009
Sweet blackberry and cherry aromas, with hints of flowers. Full-bodied, with a solid core of blackberry fruit and a long finish. Tight and chewy. Layered and pretty. Racy and fruity. Best after 2011.