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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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Paris: Dec 4 & 5
Bettane + Desseauve
Wine Experience Paris
We will be pouring the
Valmaggiore 2013
Barolo Le Vigne 2011
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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
Gambero Rosso
We have just received advance notice that our 2011 Barolo Cannubi Boschis will receive the coveted "Tre Bicchieri" award from the Gambero Rosso.
Grazie!
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(USA)
Many thanks to Antonio for his forthright criticism, for encouraging our work and his longtime support of the wines of the Langhe!
Galloni rates 2011 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."
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."
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."
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Wine Advocate rates
2011 Barolo
(USA)
the 2011 Barolo in
Issue 219 of the Wine Advocate.
"The 2011 vintage of Barolo does present warm-weather characteristics with some jammy aromas, soft tannins, an immediate style and thick extraction. Generally speaking, the wines are bold, opulent and more appropriate for medium-term drinking."
94 points.
"The 2011 Barolo Le Vigne is an opulent and shapely wine with a point of extra cherry softness that you don't get in the 2011 Barolo Cannubi Boschis. That wine shows more austerity and vigor compared to this expression. But Le Vigne delivers an unexpected touch of roundness and opulence that fits the historic profile of this beautiful rendition of Nebbiolo. It presents a slightly more immediate style but it also has the inner grace and poise for a long cellar evolution. Drink: 2017-2030."
2011 Barolo Cannubi Boschis
95 points.
"Luciano Sandrone's 2011 Barolo Cannubi Boschis is shaping up to be one of the protagonists of the vintage. I say "shaping up" because the wine is still in a youthful stage and has yet to open up fully. Tight and firm, it shows the potential for enormous depth and dimension with dark fruit, spice, licorice and white truffle. If you taste through Sandrone's older vintages, it is apparent that they perform exceptionally well in warm years like 2011. It promises a rewarding evolution ahead but I would suggest waiting five more years before popping the cork. Drink: 2018-2030."
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(USA)
Reviews 2011 Barolo
Reviewer: Kerin O'Keefe:
94 points.
October 1, 2015
"Underbrush, scorched earth, dried berry, violet and spice aromas slowly emerge on this generous, polished wine. On the palate, fine-grained tannins frame dried black cherry, grilled herb and anise. It's almost accessible and is going to offer terrific drinking in the near and mid-term. Enjoy 2017-2026."
96 points.
October 1, 2015
"Initially shy and brooding, it eventually reveals a potpourri of aromas, including forest floor, graphite, wild berry, mint, rose and a balsamic note. The palate delivers layers of ripe red cherry, black raspberry, tobacco, ground pepper, menthol and cinnamon alongside youthfully assertive but ripe tannins. Drink 2019-2031."
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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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Greetings!
The summer was gorgeous, beautiful, hot and sunny; the perfect antidote to the previous vintage. Seriously, neither we nor the grapes could get enough of the sunshine. We reveled in the sun, we soaked up the warmth and remembered what it was like to work in hot vineyards after 2 cool vintages.
Of course, hot weather presents its own problems for the grapes, especially when combined with humidity, but the crack vineyard squad under Luca kept everything under control. Everyone took 2 weeks off in the middle of August to relax, see family and recharge, and we returned to the cantina the last week of August at full force with the beginning of the Dolcetto picking on September 1.
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Serralunga castle from Castiglione in morning light. Our Baudana vineyard is about 2kms north of the left edge of the photo.
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We could not be happier with the quality of the fruit. Dolcetto thrives in mild conditions at the end of the growing season, and this year has given us exceptional Dolcetto. It has sweetness, ripe tannins and a soft, balanced acidity. We have high hopes for the wine!
The big news here is the partial completion of the new winery expansion - we will be vinifying indoors completely this year (no more tanks under the eaves of the roof) and the progress on the new tractor barn is fast. (More on this with pictures further on in the newsletter.) The expansion gives us flexibility and room to work. As always we look for quality improvements every year!
The month of September brings the start of school, and Luciano's granddaughter Alessia begins her fourth year at the Liceo Enologica (oenological high school) in Alba. Her younger brother Stefano begins his first year there next week. Their cousin Giacomo (Luca's son) begins his third year at the Liceo Scientifico. The next generation of Sandrones are on their way!
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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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2015 Summer
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Luciano checking the maintenance work and cleanliness of the destemmer. Everything must be perfect when the fruit arrives!
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The summer of 2015 was characterized by high heat from the middle of June onwards. The flowering in early June was under normal conditions with dry and warm weather (not hot!) which resulted in a normal fruit set. The onset of high temperatures around the 20th June that continued through the 14 August was complicated by the high levels of moisture still in the ground from the excessive precipitation the 2014 vintage. This resulted in high humidity close to the ground as the temperatures rose - perfect conditions for oidium (powdery mildew), which attacks the green parts of the plant (once the fruit changes from green to red in August the dangers of odium are greatly reduced).
Luca and his team were perfectly prepared and the excellent working conditions (in comparison to the dreary ones of 2014) meant the proper measures could be taken exactly as and when needed. Powdered sulfur is used at Sandrone to protect from oidium, and the team was out with the tractors spraying every few days to prevent the formation of the disease. Luca, in his typically modest manner, described the work as "routine" and "no big deal" - these are the conditions we have seen in the past and the crew is used to dealing with all eventualities.
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Andrea (l) and Florian (r) with the first load of Dolcetto skins destined for the press, September 10.
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The weather cooled on the 14th of August with a series of intense thundershowers (no hail, thank goodness!) and temperatures have been moderately warm and conditions mostly dry since. The veraison was even and easy, the fruit is healthy and the production levels are normal, a blessing after last year's diminished harvest. Luca and the crew continue to monitor the vineyards obsessively, and as we move into September we have high hopes for an excellent vintage.
The Dolcetto harvest began 10 days early on the first of September, with beautiful, healthy fruit of great color and intensity. The acid levels might be a tad lower this year due to the excessive midsummer heat but the results in the cantina so far have been encouraging. The first vat of fruit began fermenting off the indigenous yeasts after a few hours ... perfect. The first tank was racked on the 10th. The last load of Dolcetto came in under perfect weather conditions on September 9th. We expect some light rain this weekend and then will begin picking the Barbera this week around the 18th.
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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. Progress has been extremely fast and we are pleased with the rapid pace work being done by the crews which allowed us to begin vinification normally and without workers underfoot. The annex to the fermentation room is complete (we moved the fermentation tanks that were outside to this location) and 3 more steel tanks were added for flexibility in compressed vintages. As luck would have it, 2015 is looking to be a compressed (or shortened) vintage, where all the grape varieties ripen in a brief period, instead of the more normal 4-6 week picking period.
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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. |
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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.
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.
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The interior of the tractor barn, nearing completion, September 10
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Each vintage we make requires space for 3 stacks of bottles (one stack for each of 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).
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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Sept 3: The roof is on our new tractor barn and the first coat of stucco is being applied over the bricks! The project was designed so that work could continue as the harvest progresses.
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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, August 2015)
1998 Barolo Le Vigne
The 1998 vintage was semi-forgotten between the overhyped 1997s and the classic, austere 1999s. However, smart Barolo consumers bought every bottle they could, as the wine combined aspects cool and warm vintages in a deliciously drinkable way. In general, the vintage took about 10 years to reach its plateau of maturity, and has been drinking extremely well ever since. 1998 was warm without being hot, so the wine shows the ripe black fruit that is the hallmark of Nebbiolo without being bogged down by overripe, overextracted and lush fruit that detracts from the typicity of Barolo in hot vintages such as 1997, 2000 and 2003.
Cantina Tasting Note:
(August 2015; Sibi et Paucis bottle): Lovely, subtle and delicate nose of fruit, dark flowers and licorice, with hints of sottobosco and wood. In the mouth, fine, velvety tannins have always dominated, but are balanced by sufficient acid for an elegant mouthfeel. The flavors are beginning to move toward secondary, with the fresh fruit and flower aspects of young nebbiolo changing toward more dried fruit flavors. There are earthy edges with mushrooms, loam, and truffle notes. The wine should continue to drink well for at least another decade.
The Critics:
Wine Spectator: 93 points. Nov 15, 2002
Complex aromas of plums, berries, leather and hints of dried cheese that follow to flowers. Full-bodied, with polished and refined tannins and a silky, fruity finish. A beauty. Best after 2005.
Wine Advocate: 95 points. #137, Oct 2001
The multidimensional 1998 Barolo Le Vigne possesses huge layers of black cherry fruit infused with rose petals, tar, balsam wood, mineral, and subtle new oak notes. Full-bodied, awesomely concentrated, and extraordinarily pure, this exquisite, youthful Barolo will be at its prime between 2004-2020.
IWC: 93 points. 2002
Good medium color. Aromatic nose of smoky red fruits and game. Sweet and velvety in the mouth, though a bit reduced; perfumed notes of violet and strawberry. A velvety, very concentrated, impeccably extracted wine with perfectly integrated acids. Finishes very long and subtle, with building but fine tannins that are in harmony with the wine's material.
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| New Releases now in the Market!
On September 1, 2015 the new vintages of Barolo, Barbera, Dolcetto and Nebbiolo were released.
We have already begun to ship the new wines; 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 wet, cold 2014 vintage was among the most difficult of the last 20 years. One has to go back to 1992 and 1994 to find such wretched conditions! Fortunately, we and our peers have learned much in the ensuing 20 years and were able to craft delicious, easy-to-drink wines. The warmth at the end of the growing season in many ways saved the vintage and we are especially proud of our Dolcetto.
Cantina Tasting Notes:
August 2015: Intense ruby red 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 moderate persistence. Drink 2015-2018.
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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 just 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. 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. The 2012 Barolo spent 24 months in cask and were bottled the first week of April 2015.
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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 was bottled in July for September release 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 warmth 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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