In recent news on the Wine Advocate website, Antonio Galloni will be pouring verticals of four Barolo producers in a special seminar at the Food & Wine Classic in Aspen, Colorado. The seminar will include four vintages of Barolo Le Vigne from Sandrone. The Aspen Food & Wine Classic is a very prestigious event that will showcase Cannubi to a very high-end group of collectors. To see the full schedule click the icon below.
It’s an exciting day every year when the Sandrone family bottles Cannubi Boschis. Below is a great photo of Luciano Sandrone this past Monday, as they bottled the 2009 vintage Cannubi.
Great shot of Luciano Sandrone on the Sandrone Facebook page!
Wine Spectator Editor Bruce Sanderson recently got back from a three-day trip to Barolo, where he visited Sandrone and a few other select Barolo producers. Here is an excerpt about the visit from his blog on Wine Spectator.com:
“Le Vigne 2008, in bottle now for 10 months, offers cherry and herb aromas and flavors supported by a firm structure. Cannubi Boschis 2008 is perfumed, with floral and strawberry notes, in an elegant, racy, linear style. The ’08s are lighter in profile than either 2009 or 2007, with present tannins and a vibrant feel.
At lunch, we tasted the 2007s and two older vintages, Cannubi Boschis 2001 and Le Vigne 1999. The 2007s are rich, with Le Vigne offering fruity aromas, licorice and mineral flavors wrapped in firm tannins. Cannubi Boschis is elegant, perfumed and spicy, showing finesse and fine length.
Cannubi Boschis 2001 features cherry, raspberry, spice and rose elements matched to a sweet, rich palate. Almost exotic in its fruit character, it delivers excellent balance and a long finish. The Le Vigne 1999 is more reserved on the nose. It’s elegant—a spicy, direct, linear red, complex, subtle and long.
Le Vigne is the more masculine and structured of the two Barolos, Cannubi always seductive and charming.”
Read the full article here (subscription required).
Luciano Sandrone’s wines receive great reviews in Steven Tanzer’s latest International Wine Cellar: Issue #159. These reviews included some high scores for the 2007 and 2008 Barolo Cannubi Boschis, and the 2007 Barolo Le Vigne. Check out their full reviews below along with some others!
2008 Luciano Sandrone Barolo Cannubi Boschis – “Good bright ruby-red. Deeper but less forthcoming on the nose than Le Vigne, hinting a black cherry, menthol and flowers. Then Broader and deeper on the palate, conveying a more classically dry impression than the wonderfully sweet, round 2007. As creamy as this is, it’s dominated today by its impression of energy and medicinal black cherry reserve. Most impressive right now on the tightly coiled, rising, electric finish, which unfurls spectacularly as the wine sits in the glass. A great expression of Cannubi terrior.” 95 (+?) Points
2007 Luciano Sandrone Barolo Cannubi Boschis – “Good bright, deep red. Sexy, deep nose offers cherry, smoke, dried rose and minerals. Plump, round, seamless and deep, with compelling sweetness to the cherry, raspberry, spice and mocha flavors. For all its sweetness, this terrific Barolo is remarkably penetrating too. The extremely long, palate-staining finish features big but sweet tannins that softened with time in the glass. This Sandrone bottling is as reliably great as a Bordeaux first growth.” 95 Points
2008 Luciano Sandrone Barolo Le Vigne – “Good deep, bright red. Sexy, carnal aromas of crushed raspberry, rose petal and sexy oak lifted by a note of rose petal. Vibrant, tight and firmly built, with lively acids giving lift and definition to the flavors of crushed red fruits, flowers and leather. Not yet delivering the texture promised by the nore but this very long, solidly tannins Barolo is an infant today.” 92 (+?) Points
2007 Luciano Sandrone Barolo Le Vigne – “Bright, dark red. Dark raspberry, chocolate and coffee on the nose; smells clearly riper than the 2008. Fat, sweet and plump, with a texture of liquid velvet. Surprising acidity and substantial but smooth tannins give this very ripe Barolo excellent spine. Finishes with a note of menthol.” 93 Points
2010 Luciano Sandrone Dolcetto dAlba – “Dark red-ruby. Enticing aromas of black cherry, licorice and menthol, with a minty nuance emerging with air. Juicy, brisk and linear; quite dry and focused, with acidity to the fore. In a very fresh style.” 88 Points
2009 Luciano Sandrone Barbera d’Alba – “Bright saturated ruby. Extremely primary aromas of cassis, spices and violet, with an enticing suggestiong of candied berries. Very dense and lively, with firm structure and superb fruit. Finishes tight and long.” 92 Points
2009 Luciano Sandrone Nebbiolo d’Alba Valmaggiore - “Moderately saturated medium red. Reserved aromas of crushed redcurrant, cherry, mint and licorice complicated by leather and underbrush. Juicy and intense, with excellent acidity lending freshness and verve young nebbiolo is structured to age and may merit an outstanding rating with four or five years in the cellar. This was raised in all used tonneaux to privilege the fruit.” 89 (+?) Points
2006 Luciano Sandrone Nebbiolo d’Alba Valmaggiore – “Medium red. Ripe cherry and flowers on the nose; began with some superripe notes but gained in purity and lift as the wine opened in the glass. Ripe, elegant and dry, softening nicely with time in bottle. Best today on the broad, pliant back half, which features suave fine-grained tannins and lovely persistence.” 91 Points
The New York Times had a little piece on October 28th featuring the 2007 Barolos - they are very attractive and impressive as the article points out, and Sandrone’s spectacular Barolo Le Vigne 2007 is featured. You can see the full piece here, and highlights below.
“Wines from the 2007 vintage, tasted during a visit to Piedmont this month, are rich, fruity and often impressive. Some producers acknowledge that the jury is out on whether these wines will age in classic fashion, but they have the advantage of being approachable for relatively early drinking. Those with patience and cellar space to spare may want to opt for the more classic, highly structured 2006s.
2007 Barolo Le Vigne, Luciano Sandrone. A big, bold, velvety wine that wraps ripe fruit and deftly applied oak around a luxurious structure.”
Calling all Barolo lovers: Crush Wine & Spirits in New York City is offering a special two-pack deal for the 2006 Sandrone Le Vigne and Cannubi Boschis. According to Wine Advocate’s Antonio Galloni, “Sandrone’s 2006 Barolos are among the unqualified successes of the 2006 harvest.”
Ian Mc Fadden, Fine & Rare Wine Director of Crush, writes the following:
“Each vintage, we become more and more impressed with the wines of Sandrone.
Few producers are able to weave such purity and energy with such textural elegance… and nobody does it at anything close to this price. Yes, Giacosa’s red labels are among the most seductive wines on earth, forget about limiting the discussion to Barolo/Barbaresco, but they also hover around $400 a bottle.
The 2006 Sandrones are among the wines of the vintage – I think it’s fair to say that Galloni flipped for them, but read the reviews for yourself, they’re below.
Sandrone has always been a very well respected producer in the Piedmont, but in the last 5-10 years they have quite simply moved to the next level. The oak has been dialed back and the transparency and precision dialed up – few Barolos thread the needle so finely, satiny, seductive, curvaceous… yet also finessed, energetic.”
Read here to read the full Crush offering.
In the May 2011 issue of Decanter, Richard Baudains singles out the 2004 Sandrone Cannubi Boschis as his top-rated wine from Piedmont, giving it a score of 19.5/20: “Elegant, fresh and complex nose of violets, redcurrants, bay and cinnamon. Great purity and focus on the palate, which starts dry and intense and opens broad and long with powdery tannins and infinite length. Sublime. Drink 2011-2020.”
Just last month, Ian D’Agata of Stephen Tanzer’s International Wine Cellar performed a vertical tasting of Sandrone Barolo Le Vigne. Made from grapes grown in four different vineyards in Barolo, Novello and Monforte d’Alba, the wine is complex and full-bodied, with bold tannins.
“Perhaps most important, Le Vigne is an excellent example of Barolo made at higher altitude and mainly from areas known for fuller-bodied wines with tougher tannins (Novello and Monforte). It is therefore characterized by higher acidity and firmer structure than many Barolos, including the softer, rounder Cannubi Boschis, and the vertical tasting I conducted in December in Rome bears this out.”
The vertical tasting featured a vertical of Sandrone Barolo Le Vigne from 1996 to 2006, all of which scored above 90 points. A stellar showing for a top Barolo producer.
See D’Agata’s article and tasting notes here (with subscription).
Dan Sims of The Wine Guide has a fantastic writeup on a vertical tasting of Sandrone‘s Barolos going back to 1999. Tasting Le Vigne and Cannubi Boschis should be enough to dispel anyone’s Monday blues, as Sims writes:
“It’s amazing how one word can put a smile on your face. It’s amazing how the work piled on the desk, all of a sudden doesn’t look as urgent as it had 5 minutes ago. It’s amazing how the cluttered inbox all of sudden just doesn’t matter.
“Sandrone.”
Sims’ detailed notes can be found here, including some high praise for the latest releases of Dolcetto, Barbera and Valmaggiore.
