2013 is shaping up to be a year of contrasts, especially between the wet, cold spring and the lovely, temperate summer weather. After a moderate, even and nicely warm summer, we are hoping for another classically styled vintage like 2008. Many of our loyal customers have been asking us about the 2013 vintage as reports from other parts of the world are generally abysmal (Burgundy, Bordeaux and the Loire Valley have been especially hard hit), but northern Italy has luckily avoided the bad conditions prevalent in other parts of Europe. While our spring weather was difficult (more on this later) the weather stabilized just before flowering, has remained steady since with a nice summer and early autumn, and we are cautiously optimistic on the vintage.

Roses in the cantina courtyard, July.

We continued our usual work in the vineyards throughout the spring and into the summer, making sure that the vines stayed healthy. Our hard work paid off and everyone was able to take a bit of summer vacation during the quiet days of August: people went hiking, bicycling, visited family or just relaxed. Luciano did some flyfishing (a favorite activity of his), Luca went cycling, and Barbara had time for some good hikes and bike rides in the Alps.

This month we release the new wines for 2013 (LOTS more below) and discuss our labeling process in a short article. We are especailly excited about the 2009 Barolo releases, as these are wines to enjoy in their youth (compared with other Barolo vintages), with bright, forward fruit and open, generous aromatics. 

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We would also like to extend a note of congratulations to our US Importer, Vintus, which has just been nominated for "Importer of the Year" by the Wine Enthusiast Magazine. A heartfelt congratulations to Michael Quinttus, President of Vintus, to Alex Michas, Vice President, and their entire team, top to bottom, for the hard work and passion they bring to representing us in the United States.

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Race the dog

Also, a warm welcome to the newest member of the extended Sandrone family, Race. Race joined us last week and is a quiet, gentle soul, happy to sit in the sun in the winery courtyard and always deeply appreciative of a scratch behind the ears.

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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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Dorina on the labeling line

Many wineries around the world run their bottling/labeling operation as a single, continuous process, whereby the end result are pallets of boxes ready for shipment to customers worldwide. This is not the common practice in the Barolo, where we are required to keep the bottles of Barolo until the 4th calendar year after the vintage. Storing bottles in boxes is a very inefficient use of space, thus the gabbioni. 

Luca with just-labeled bottles of Valmaggiore

 

Cristina boxing fresh bottles.

 

We usually prepare the orders just a few days before the truck is scheduled to pick them up, so that we don't ever have excess inventory, and to keep the bottles safely in the basement storage cellar.    

Barbera Labels on the line.

 

And then our bottles go out into the world - a little piece of the Langhe traveling to faraway places! We hope you enjoy them!

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 - while 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 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 long 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.

Luciano says that 2011 is perhaps the best Valmaggiore that he has yet made - the combination of bright, small red fruits and the perfectly balanced and fresh acidity reflect the terroir of the Valmaggiore in a completely transparent way. Indeed, the 2011 vintage gave us a little less color than we are used to but the balance of the aromatics and flavors is simply impeccable. The good acidity will keep this wine drinking well for somewhat longer than usual; Luciano thinks this has 10-15 years of good drinking ahead of it. He considers the wine's transparency and honesty in reflecting the terroir and potential of this site to be exceptional. And it is delicious!!!

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 Le Vigne Barolo

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 four component vineyards between October 9 and 19, making our usual strict selection in the vineyards.

Cantina Tasting Note:

Dark red garnet. Big, forward aromas, with deep and ripe fruit, hints of vanilla and wood, very forward & expressive in the nose, excellent black cherries and blackberries. On the palate, it possesses great balance, length and minerality, with complex balsamic notes, mountain herbs and spices, but shows some young and unevolved tannins, undoubtedly from the higher-altitude sites of Cerretta and Conterni. In the mouth, great fruit, intense tannins and good acidity - it is all there, requiring only patience to knit together. Long, dry finish; the tannins just need time. The expressive fruit of the 2009 vintage is front and center.   

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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 Cannubi Boschis

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:

Fresh berry and cherry aromas, surprisingly open given the still-closed nature of many of this vintage's wines.  Ripe raspberry, cherry and vanilla - this is full of fresh and vibrant red fruit framed with mineral aspects.  The intensity of the fruit aromas gives it admirable directness but it is still exceptionally complex and engaging. On the tongue, the layered red berries, red plums, black cherries and vanilla is very forward and open.  Though the tannins are still tight, they are extremely ripe and smooth.  The finish is full of dark fruit and stones.

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From the Critics:

Wine Advocate: 95 points. #182, Apr 2009
Offers up pretty notes of mint, flowers, spices and dark red berries, with sweet notes of French oak that linger on the finish. This is a decidedly slender Cannubi Boschis that lacks some of the sheer pedigree and explosiveness of the best vintages. The tannins need some time to soften, but this is a wine that has continued to grow in bottle. It could very well turn out to be one of the vintage' s surprises. In 2005 the harvest took place at the end of September and the wine was aged in 500-liter barrels (one-third new). Anticipated maturity: 2011-2020.

IWC/ Ian d'Agata: 95 Points, Nov/Dec 2009
Good deep, bright red. Compelling perfume to the aromas of raspberry,smoke and minerals. At once silky and firmly built, with terrific juiciness and grip from sound acids. Not as dense as some vintages but boasts lovely fruit intensity and verve. Finishes with a firm tannic spine and lingering aromatic character.This seems even fresher in bottle than it was in barrel two years ago. 

Wine Spectator: 96 points. Issue Jul 31, 2009
Offers blueberry aromas, with sweet tobacco and mahogany. Full-bodied, rich and powerful, with plum pudding and milk chocolate flavors. This is very special. The Sandrones are genius with Cannubi. Best after 2013.

Gambero Rosso: Tre Bicchieri