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Tel: +39.0173.560.023
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eMail:
info@sandroneluciano.com
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For more information on tasting events around the world, please go to our "Events" page.
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Vinexpo
June 14-15-16-17-18, 2015
"Parc des Expositions"
Exhibition Centre, Bordeaux
We will be at:
Hall 1, Stand BD123
Barbara and team member Mrs. Anna Rech will be pouring you Luciano's new vintages:
2011 Barolo Cannubi Boschis
2011 Barolo Le Vigne
2013 Valmaggiore
2013 Barbera d'Alba
VinExpo 2015 information can be found here.
As more information becomes available, such as our booth number and location at the fair, we will post it to our events page.
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Recent Press
Vinous
(USA)
Many thanks to Antonio for his forthright criticism, for encouraging our work and his longtime support of the wines of the Langhe!
September, 2014
Galloni rates 2011 Barolo and recaps 1999 Barolo
Just published: Antonio has posted a new article on a "First Look" at 2011 Barolo.
Link to the full article here.
(subscription required)
"Luciano and Luca Sandrone's 2011 Barolos are gorgeous. They also reflect some of the important shifts taking place in Piedmont; namely keeping green harvests from being excessive, leaving more leaf cover and picking a little earlier. For a few years now Sandrone has been among the first to bottle, preferring to give the wines less time in barrel, but more time in bottle before release in order to preserve freshness."
2011 Barolo Cannubi Boschis
95+ points
"Sandrone's 2011 Barolo Cannubi Boschis is a drop-dead gorgeous beauty. Flashy, supple and radiant, the 2011 is already quite open and expressive. Cannubi Boschis impresses for its centerdness, solid core of fruit and exceptional overall balance. This gorgeous, voluptuous beauty is shaping up to be a jewel of a wine. Next to the sensual, layered Le Vigne, the Cannubi Boschis is a decidedly vertical, powerful Barolo."
2011 Barolo Le Vigne
96 points
"Rose petal, mint, crushed flowers, sweet red berries and cinnamon are some of the many notes that take shape in the glass. A wine of exquisite perfume and aromatic lift, the 2011 Le Vigne is all about finesse and pure texture. With time in the glass, the 2011 blossoms into a layered, head-turning wine. This is a great effort from Sandrone. In 2011, Le Vigne includes fruit from Villero for the first time. Few wines straddle the modern and traditional with this much pure finesse."
1999 Vintage Recap
by Antonio Galloni
(published August 2014)
"The 1999 Barolos are the first wines Luciano Sandrone made in his current winery in the flats of Barolo across the road from Cannubi. Since then, Sandrone has continued to ratchet up quality in a meaningful way. Although the 1999s are beautiful, it is pretty clear that today's wines have an extra gear or two. In the late 1990s, the emphasis was on very low yields and later harvesting, than is the case today, while new oak levels were also higher."
Link here to full article.
(subscription required)
1999 Barolo Cannubi Boschis
93 points
"Sandrone's 1999 Barolo Cannubi Boschis has become much more delicate over the last few years. Still fresh and vibrant, the 1999 impresses for its total sense of harmony. The tannins are now starting to melt away, allowing the fruit to be fully expressive. Violets, lavender and blue/purplish fruit grace the finish. There is a lot to like here."
1999 Barolo Le Vigne
94 points
"The 1999 Barolo Le Vigne is striking and super-expressive today. Still quite youthful, the 1999 possesses lovely balance and plenty of silkiness. Subtle hints of sweet tobacco, mint, dried cherries, crushed flowers and anise are all layers of nuance in a finely sculpted, chiseled Barolo long on personality and class. This is a fabulous showing from Le Vigne."
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Antonio Galloni reviewed
the 2010 Barolo releases
(posted to Vinous on Jan 8, 2014)
2010 Barolo Cannubi Boschis
97+ points
"Tar, smoke, licorice, incense, blood orange and sweet spices are some of the many notes that emerge from the 2010 Barolo Cannubi Boschis. Today the 2010 is firing on all cylinders. The flavors are broad, rich and ample, with fabulous delineation, energy and class. A creamy, resonant finish laced with exotic floral and citrus notes only adds intrigue in this drop-dead gorgeous Barolo." Drink 2020-2035
2010 Barolo Le Vinge
100 points
"Sandrone's 2010 Barolo Le Vigne is one of the wines of the vintage, hands down. Rich, layered and utterly impeccable, the Le Vigne boasts stunning depth and richness. This is the second year in which Le Vigne includes fruit from Baudana which gives the wine a sense of volume and pure breadth it has never had before. Dried rose petal, tar, mint, wild flowers and cinnamon flow through to the multi-dimensional finish. The 2010 is a blend of fruit from Vignane and Merli, two historic sites for Le Vigne, while Cerretta and Conterni have been replaced by Baudana, a site in Serralunga that confers a level of depth, darkness and masculinity that has not been present in the past. Villero is the next vineyard that will appear in Le Vigne, starting in 2011. In the meantime, readers will not want to miss the 2010 Barolo Le Vigne, an epic achievement from the Sandrone family." Drink 2018-2035
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Wine Advocate rates
2010 Barolo
(USA)
the 2010 Barolo in
Issue 213 of the Wine Advocate.
"The 2010 vintage of Barolo is the most Nebbiologgiante vintage in recent memory. It offers a pristine and absolutely immaculate view into this great native grape that thrives so successfully in the Langhe area of northwest Italy. Without a doubt, it will be recorded as one of the great vintages of the past decades."
96 points.
"The 2010 Barolo Le Vigne is composed from an assembly of fruit sourced from the townships of Barolo, Novello and Serralunga d'Alba. It reflects Barolo tradition in which, years ago, this noble wine was made from a wide assembly of fruit instead of single cru sites (as is the custom today). Bright cherry fruit, blackberry and creme de cassis segue to profound layers of licorice, spice, cola and anisette. It feels strong and tonic in the mouth with a pleasingly velveteen texture and a fresh dose of zesty acidity. Drink: 2017-2030."
2010 Barolo Cannubi Boschis
97 points.
"The single-vineyard 2010 Barolo Cannubi Boschis speaks in confident tones at high volumes. First produced in 1985, Cannubi Boschis is among the first single vineyard cru expressions made in Barolo. Thirty-five-year-old vines enjoy south and southeast exposures at 250 meters above sea level. The long 2010 growing season has favored optimal tannin ripeness and fine complexity on the bouquet. This is one of the standout wines of this celebrated vintage. It is well worth putting this wine at the back of your cellar where it will be untouched for years. Drink: 2017-2030."
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(USA)
Reviews 2010 Barolo
Reviewer: Kerin O'Keefe:
97 points.
September 1, 2014
"This compelling wine delivers a combination of concentration and complexity. It opens with a multifaceted fragrance that includes mature black fruit, leather, cinnamon and balsamic notes. The palate is still tightly wound but offers bright red berry and black cherry layered with notes of tobacco, alpine herbs and baking spices alongside bracing tannins and invigorating acidity. It's young but impeccably balanced. Drink after 2020."
99 points.
September 1, 2014
"Structured but extremely elegant, this opens with an intense fragrance of violet, rose, wild berry, leather, underbrush and balsamic notes. The delicious, focused palate delivers crushed black cherry layered with notes of exotic spices, licorice, sage and black pepper, perfectly balanced by assertive tannins and vibrant energy. It already boasts gripping depth, but this has serious aging potential. Drink 2020-2040."
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La Revue de Vin de France
(FR)
has included Barbara and the Sandrone Cantina in a recent article on the region.
The article recommended two "tours" and we are included in the pedestrian tour of the village of Barolo. The writers recommend our 2010 Valmaggiore
as a "do-not-miss" wine.
Page 1 of the article here.
Page 2 with itineraries here.
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(USA)
Nov/Dec 2013 94 (+?) points
"Good deep red. Perfumed aromas of raspberry, licorice, dried flowers and herbs. Silky on entry, then rich but tight in the middle, with a distinctly darker fruit character than the Cannubi Boschis. Very complex, energetic wine with fresh acidity, serious tannins and a sappy saline quality on the very long finish. A beauty in the making."
95+ points "Good deep, bright medium red. Highly complex, very expressive scents of black raspberry, violet, smoke, licorice and espresso, plus an exhilarating whiff of blood orange. Then dense but bound-up on the palate, showing a medicinal licorice quality and modest flesh today, with the wine's powerful spine dominating. But the explosive back-end fruit and outstanding lift and rising length suggest that this brilliantly delineated wine will be a long-lived classic."
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Greetings!
After a long, wet and snowy winter, the spring was gloriously normal - bright sunny days, intermittent rain, a lovely flowering of the cherries (the hillsides turned positively white with the blossoms from so many trees) and a blessed return to a semblance of normalcy after two very difficult spring periods (and an extremely difficult 2014 in general). |
| | Cherry trees in bloom near Druca/Liste in the Barolo township, April 2015 |
The cold and snowy winter gave us plenty of replenishment to the water tables and so we are not worried for hydric stress for this growing season - after 16 months of rain, we're confident that even in a vintage like 2003 we would have few water worries. Combined with an intense 10-day period of sun and warmth, the vegetation has exploded and growth is spectacular.
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Nonna Rosina in 2008,
while making cugna from Luciano's grape must.
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On a sad note, we are all devastated by the loss of Nonna Rosina, mother to Luciano and Luca, grandmother to Barbara and Giacomo and great-grandmother to Alessia and Stefano. We miss her solid presence in our everyday lives, the love she showed all of us, and the incredible joy she took in being surrounded by 3 generations of family. She passed away surrounded by family and loved ones, and was laid to rest in the village cemetery of Barolo on the 4th of May, in bright sunshine amid the beautiful rolling hills covered in blossoms. We miss her tremendously. --- As always, we thank you, our collectors and consumers, 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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| A lemon tree in the cantina courtyard on a warm spring day. May 2015
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2015 Spring
The long, wet and snowy winter gave way to a surprisingly temperate and warm spring with a few short bursts of high heat that caused all the plants to "wake up" at once. Cool and chilly temperatures until the first week of April caused some worry that we would have a repeat of the wet, cold conditions of last spring, but the subsequent 2 months were typical spring weather: many bright, sunny days with considerable warmth interspersed with 2 or 3 day spells of rain. In other words, very typical. And that comes as a relief.
We saw a burst of heat in early May which, due to the high amounts of water in the soil from the wet winter, caused a fast acceleration of vegetative growth. We had to scramble to get support cords up on our trellising systems to help contain the amazing amounts of vegetation that seemingly grew overnight. Some severe windstorms in early May knocked down some of the delicate new shoots but for the most part we escaped unscathed thanks to the hard work of Luca and his vineyard crews.
Since then we have enjoyed mostly bright, sunny days but with cool temperatures, so vegetative growth has slowed somewhat. We entered the critical flowering period with healthy vines showing good potential flower development. Interestingly, this year there are noticeable differences in vine development between low-lying vineyards such as Cannubi Boschis (whose base at the valley floor is at about 230m altitude) and higher-altitude sites such as those in Novello (400m) and Serralunga (330m). The critical thing is that we have been vigilant in the care of our plants and they are healthy and strong.
With the flowering now nearly complete - only a few high-altitude sites are still in bloom - we have passed the second marker of the young growing season (first was the bud break). The forecast for the following week is for sun and heat, the only difficulty being the high humidity we are still experiencing, which requires constant vigilance for peronospera. Summer is arriving and we are very satisfied with the health and condition of our plants.
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We were pleased to welcome a group from GoodWine, our Ukrainian importers. They came through for a visit on the 23 of May to learn about our wines and the region of the Langhe. A fabulous time was had by all and we thank them for their visit! An especially warm thank-you to Mr Dimitry Kimsky, the president of GoodWine, for bringing his team to see us and learn firsthand the craft that Luciano and Luca follow in making the wines. (PS their Facebook page is fantastic: cooking, wine, food, craft beers, all good! click here!)
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The GoodWine Team at Sandrone with Barbara and Luciano
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Construction of the first arches and ceilings, February 12, 2015
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Continuing our big news from this winter is the progress on the new Library Cellar and Tractor Garage building. As of the end of May 2015 the cellars and brick arches are completely finished and the work is beginning on pouring the concrete for the tractor area. The first picture at right shows the hole in the ground in February, the
second one the hole completely covered with the floor poured on May 30, 2015. Progress has been fast!
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| | May 28, 2015: The Library cellar is complete! We have begun work on the ground floor, which will house tractors and vineyard equipment with lots of space for repairs and maintenance. |
As we wrote in the last newsletter, this project became necessary as we find that our library program is becoming increasingly important for both our long-term restaurant clients and for the ongoing historical memory of the winery. We currently hold back about 10% of each of the 3 Nebbiolo-based wines each vintage under our "Sibi et Paucis" program. As this program has grown over the last 15 years, we find ourself completely out of space in the cellar that was purpose-built for this program.
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| | Early April: cellar columns under construction. |
Valmaggiore is held back an additional 4 years before re-release, the Barolo bottlings are held back from 4-8 additional years (obviously, it requires a lot of space to store these bottles!). The new cellar will more than double our available space for Sibi et Paucis wines. Each vintage we make requires space for 3 stacks of bottles from the three Nebbiolo bottlings for many, many years. We don't sell this stock quickly - these are bottles that trickle out over the ensuing years, mostly to replenish restaurant wine lists that want to keep verticals of our wines. Currently we have Sibi et Paucis stacks going back to the 1998 vintage for the two Baroli, and Valmaggiore is represented back to 2001. (The first vintage of Sibi et Paucis for Barolo was 1996).
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April: assembling the arches
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When we put aside Sibi et Paucis bottles, the wine is exactly the same as what is put into the market at the time of original release. All of our wines are bottled at the same time from a single tank to insure that the first bottle off the line is exactly the same as the last. We simply place approximately 10% of each Nebbiolo wine aside for extra aging in Luciano's library cellar under ideal conditions. The only difference between the regular and Sibi et Paucis releases is the metallic seal on the S&P wines, which indicates that the wine was aged in the winery's library under perfect conditions.
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| | Early May: Arches and domes nearly completed! |
Of course, the architectural plan calls for the new structure to follow the aesthetic of the previous buildings in the style of an historic fortified Piedmontese farmhouse. We have always wanted that our winery building fits in with the traditional landscape of the Barolo region.
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| May 28: looking across the just-poured floor of the new tractor shed
towards Cannubi Boschis. |
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| Recent Tastings: Older Vintages from Luciano's Personal Cellar
Once in while, we open an older bottle to see how it is maturing and developing (but also to enjoy the result of our work!). This section of the Newsletter is to share any recent tasting of older vintages with you.
In April we took the opportunity to take a look at the development of the 2009 Le Vigne Barolo. (Tasted by Luciano, Luca and Barbara, with others on the staff, April 2015)
The 2009 vintage gave us distinctly softer, more approachable Barolo and the 2009 is already drinking beautifully. We consider this a "restaurant" vintage: wines that are ready to enjoy with a minimal benefit to be gained from additional cellaring. 2009 is often compared to 2007, another early-drinking vintage, but we think that the 2009 has better acid presence, due mostly to the incredible snow we had during the winter, which fully replenished the water tables before the dry, warm summer (drought stress can impede the full development of the acids in the grapes; the winter before the 2007 vintage was dry). 2009 is a Barolo to enjoy while waiting for the 2008, 2006 and 2004 vintages to develop more fully.
Cantina Tasting Note:
(April 2015): The aromatics of this wine are pure silk - integrated dark fruit, floral notes, hints of asphalt and licorice, all powerfully present and containing just a hint of the concentration that is characteristic of the vintage. In the mouth, the wine is rich, intense, concentrated and surprisingly light on its feet - this is not over-extracted marmalade! While it will be drinking well for the next 15 or so years, it is delicious now and can be enjoyed if decanted an hour beforehand. The finish is long and sweet with precise tannins and rich fruit aspects. The acids are balanced and refreshing. Drink now-2034.
The Critics:
September 1, 2013
"This is a stunning wine with intense floral scents of iris, violet and rose layered with hints of mint and coffee. The palate is rich and vibrant, with a core of black cherry wrapped in cinnamon and spice. This is superbly balanced, elegant and structured. Enjoyable now, this will also age well."
Issue 207, June 2013"The 2009 Barolo Le Vigne shows class and pedigree with bright fruit tones carefully wrapped within the wine's elegant texture. The purity and the intensity of the wine are exceptional, especially when compared to other Barolos from this vintage. The bouquet is polished and long, with pristine accents of spice, licorice and anise seed. Made with fruit sourced from various parcels, this wine speaks with a strong and confident tone. Anticipated maturity: 2015-2028." Vinous (Antonio Galloni): 93 points. June 2013 "The 2009 Barolo Le Vigne impresses for its textural finesse and sheer silkiness. Sweet red berries, crushed flowers, spices and mint are all woven together nicely. There is plenty of early appeal in this mid-weight, gracious Barolo from Sandrone. The integration of fruit and tannin is simply masterful. The 2009 may start shutting down a bit in bottle, but it is likely to enjoy a fairly broad window of drinkability. I wouldn't wait too long, however. Drinking window: 2017 - 2027"
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| | Autumn 2009. Bussia Zanzassi in the foreground. The purple-colored tower of the Sandrone winery is barely visible in the far center of the picture, just underneath the vertical marker line, about one-third down in the picture. |
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| New Releases for September coming to the Market!
On September 1, 2015 the new vintages of Barolo, Barbera, Dolcetto and Nebbiolo will be released.
Dolcetto d'Alba 2014
Barbera d'Alba 2013
Barolo Cannubi Boschis 2011
Barolo "Le Vigne" 2011
We will begin to ship the new wines as the release date approaches; check with your country's importer(s) for specific arrival times and ordering/purchase information with their retail partners.
Technical data and tasting notes for all wines including historical vintages can be found by following the above links to our website. We add professional reviews as they become available.
In 2011, early warmth around Easter brought the bud break forward by 10-12 days and set a fast start to the growing season. Temperatures cooled though the early and middle summer to the point that the fruit was on schedule at the end on July. August 6 and 7 saw the arrival of high pressure and heat across northern Italy, and the warmth continued unabated through the middle of October. Interestingly, the extra warmth, coming so late in the growing cycle, did not lead to higher production. The Barolo of 2011 combine the best elements of a cool and warm year; it was cool through August and warm thereafter, and the wines show forward fruit and drinkability alongside a bracing freshness and ripe, long tannins. In general, the wines show poise, drinkability and precise delineation. These are wines that can be consumed earlier in their life compared to the backward vintages of 2006, 2008 and 2010.
The Valmaggiore area is always somewhat warmer than in the Barolo, as is normal, and the 2013 shows the focused fruit and acidity typical of the growing season. 2013 was a cooler year and our Valamggiore shows the delightfully precise effects of the Roero terroir on Nebbiolo: delicacy, red fruits, soft tannins.
Barbera needed more care in the vineyards in 2013 as the season lacked the heat that gives Barbera its greatest expression. Careful vine work and green harvesting allowed us to pick beautifully ripe fruit the end of September. It is a focused and refreshing Barbera.
The difficult 2014 vintage required a set of working practices that we have not needed in nearly a decade: laborious hand-work in the vineyards because the ground was too wet for tractors and heavy equipment. Near-constant hand-spraying and leaf-thinning (to allow for better air circulation) resulted in a very satisfying and deeply colored Dolcetto.
 Current Release Spotlight:
The 2013 vintage was cooler even in the typically warmer area of the Roero where Valmaggiore sits. The 2013 vintage gives us a Valmaggiore of precision and focus, befitting the cooler and less precocious conditions of the long growing season.
Cantina Tasting Notes:
May 2015: Dark garnet-ruby color. In the nose, a mix of small red and black fruits - raspberries, blackberries, cherries - with licorice and cola notes. In the mouth, the varied fruits harmonize with the precise tannins characteristic of the 2013 vintage. The freshness of this wine is impeccable; it has lost all of its baby fat and evolved positively in its year in the bottle. The finish is long and dry and ends with licorice, mineral and fruit. Drink 2016-2028.
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Sibi et Paucis 
Along with new current releases, we typically release a few bottles of our "Sibi et Paucis" library wines. This year Luciano decided to wait an additional two years and release the 2006 Barolo bottlings on their 10th anniversary in 2016. Thus this autumn we have no new library release bottles.
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.
Please check with your country's importer for availability of these bottles - previously released vintages may still be in their supply.
Only about 10% of the production 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 can be assured that the wine spent at least 4 years in Luciano's archive library cellar - perfect provenance!
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Barolo resting in the Cantina
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Tonneaux in the Ageing Cellar.
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Our Barolo spends at least 24 months in wooden casks and per DOCG laws 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 12-14 months in wood. We use about 20-25% new wood on the Barolo, 30-50% new wood on the Barbera and only used, neutral casks for the Valmaggiore.
The 2012 Baroli have finished their time in tonneaux and were bottled in March. The 2012 Barbera and Nebbiolo Valmaggiore were bottled in December 2013 and were released last September. The 2011 Barolo were assembled and bottled in January-February of 2014 and will be released in September of 2015. 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.
 2011: The Barolo were in cask for 2 years and were assembled in December 2013 and bottled in January 2014. The warm Cannubi Boschis 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 further fruit from the Upper Baudana planting from Serralunga, which adds great tannic structure to the wine (a portion of the Baudana fruit was also used in the 2010 Le Vigne). We have very high expectations for this wine, and the further 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."
2012: A long, even growing season of exceptional quality was the characteristic of this year. The wines show generous and forward fruit but with more structure and tannin than some of the warm recent vintages, thus the 2012s require some patience to reach their peak. As the wines develop, we see the character of a more classic vintage emerging, showing good acidity and structure. Cannubi Boschis, lower in the valley and from a warmer site, gives us a fruit-driven wine; Le Vigne, from higher-altitude plots, shows more tightness and structure. In 2012, Luciano made 2 experiments with fruit from various Le Vigne vineyards: a tank vinified with the stems from a plot of exceptionally ripe Nebbiolo and a tank macerated for 4 weeks on the skins. Both of these tanks will be incorporated into the Le Vigne bottling. Luciano's goal with these experiments - as always - is to improve quality, drinkability and more fully express the typicity of Nebbiolo grown in the Barolo.
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Ripe, healthy Nebbiolo in Valmaggiore, September 2013
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2013: A difficult, wet and cold spring gave way to sunny and warm conditions a week before flowering, and the ensuing summer was warm but not particularly hot, except for an 8-day heatwave in late July/early August. August was less hot than usual and a 3-day rain the first week of September drastically cooled the area. Uneven weather patterns forced us to carefully pick parcel-by-parcel as grapes reached optimum ripeness. The Dolcetto suffered a bit from the early cool weather but the health of the fruit at picking time was excellent, though alcohol levels seem to be a half-point lower than usual. Late September and early October gave us warm, sunny days and good picking conditions, and we were able to harvest near-normal quantities of exceptionally balanced, mature Nebbiolo and Barbera. Luciano and Luca are very happy with the overall high quality. Malolactic fermentation finished the first week of February 2014 and the wines will continue to develop during their time in tonneaux. Barbera and Nebbiolo were bottled in February of this year and show the vintage very well: Barbera is a bit of a throwback to an old-style Barbera with plenty of structure and acid, incredible freshness and vivacity, but with precise, focused fruit that pulls everything together. 2013 Barbera does not have the rich unctuousness that comes from hot vintages (Barbera loves the heat) but this will be a vintage that ages better due to its superior structure. The Nebbiolo d'Alba Valmaggiore shows the hallmarks of classic-vintage character: deep red fruits, licorice, smooth, persistent tannins and a finish that goes on forever. For a mid-weight wine, this is uncommonly structured and shows good aging potential.
2014: The first truly difficult growing season since 2002 and 2003, but not the disaster the press has made it out to be. After 10 very good to otherworldly vintages, having a difficult vintage is not the end of the world - we have much for which to be thankful, not least of which is the wines we made this year. The wines were racked to tonneaux in November and early December of 2014 and went through the malolactic fermentation; all have finished the malo and the temperatures in the aging cellar are back down to 12C. The Dolcetto will be bottled in July for release in September, and the amount of wine bottled will be down slightly. Barbera and Valmaggiore will be bottled this fall and show good potential, especially for the Nebbiolo, which was saved by the weeks of sun and warmth from the last week of September thru the middle of October. The two Baroli were also positively influenced by the late-season worth and sun (indeed this period of clear weather saved the season) and continue to evolve in their tonneaux. We hope for wines that show precision, bright freshness and good fruit, and are encouraged by the development we have seen so far in wood casks.
We will keep you updated on the further development of these wines.
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Legal & Copyright: The Fine Print!
Newsletter, Announcements, Flash News and Press Releases: Copyright 2015 Sandrone Luciano Azienda Agricola, Via Pugnane 4, 12060 Barolo (CN) Italy
Text: Copyright 2015 VintageSpec, Inc. Used by permission. Reproduction of any part of this newsletter without prior written consent of Sandrone Luciano Barolo and any other copyright holder is prohibited. Photos: "Cannubi panorama landscape" header, "5 bottles," "Valmaggiore Vineyard" and individual bottle photos: Copyright Davide Dutto. Any and All other Photographs in text: Copyright 2005-2015 VintageSpec Inc. Used by permission. Reproductions of text and images such as in the "Recent Press," "Upcoming Events" and other sections of this newsletter come from various named and credited publications, events and critics, and are made under "Fair Use" provisions of Copyright law. |
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