Luciano Sandrone Dinner Offer 2024
From his first vintage in 1978 Luciano Sandrone set out to make a more approachable and drinkable Barolo. No one has managed to bridge tradition and innovation as brilliantly as Sandrone, rendering pointless any of the typical arguments in favor of one winemaking philosophy over the other. Over the years Sandrone has turned out a stunning group of wines, often reaching stratospheric heights. Although Sandrone’s wines are accessible when young, they also age beautifully as is demonstrated by the wines from the 1980s. Yet as magical as the older wines can be, Sandrone believes his recent releases are even better saying “today we know so much more about how to work in the vineyards and in the cellar.” I consider Luciano Sandrone’s Cannubi Boschis to be one of a handful of benchmark wines for the region, well worth the effort of finding and cellaring. ANTONIO GALLONI, www.vinousmedia.com
The 2019s remind me of the legendary 1989s: An extraordinary vintage from
another era that produced Barolos with complexity and unusually ripe fruit for
the times but that were also racy and extremely tense. While the '89s needed
years to fully develop, even at their debut, they promised greatness and
longevity. KERIN O'KEEFE
2019 may be the last time an
electrifying, fresh and tannic vintage has been gifted to us in Barolo - at
least for the foreseeable future. WALTER SPELLER MW,
jancisrobinson.com
Being better late than never takes on an extra resonance when it comes to the
arrival of Luciano Sandrone's wonderful Baroli. They always release a little
later than their neighbours but they are always worth the wait. On top of this,
Lucinao sadly passed away recently so knowing the next couple of vintages will
be the final wines made by one of the true greats of the region, makes these
wines especially important.
The achievements and the status of Luciano
Sandrone have been well-documented over the years. His pioneering efforts to
modernise the production of his Baroli joined a groundswell of contemporaries in
radically refashioning the style and (for many) the consistency of great Barolo.
His own style is one where neither arch-traditional nor overt modernist styling
is dominant, but rather he has always championed a melding of the two - using
modern techniques to accentuate the efficacy of site and variety. They are
special wines from one of the world's most thoughtful winemakers.
His most significant wines are the Aleste/Cannubi Boschis (actually taken from three plots in the Monghisolfo portion of Cannubi) and then there is his excellent blended Barolo, Le Vigne, which is sourced from a variety of plots - Vignane (Barolo), Conterni and Ceretta (Monforte) and Merli (Novello). Both are superb expressions with Cannubi tapping the majestic nature of the site with plushness and lightness allied to real power, while the blend offers a more rustic and multi-angled view of the variety. I can't split them from year to year so I buy both.
The other wine of real interest from the stable is the Roero Valmaggiore; a stunning site for it's steepness and aspect. The wine is also a passion play for Sandrone who realised the potential for nebbiolo in this zone long before many others (locals excepted) and went about buying out several smaller farmers to create the one plot. This "baby Barolo" offers a gateway of the Sandrone genius with nebbiolo without the price tag. Being Roero, you get accessibility earlier, milder tannins profiles allowing a peak through the curtains before it's Barolo cousins.
Finally, with every new release of current vintage wines from the Sandrone cellars comes a release of the Sibi et Paucis wines. This is Sandrone's cellaring/museum program which sees wines re-released a decade after vintage. Sandrone's motivation is to allow people to see his wines with age. He had observed restaurants selling out of his wines in the year of their release and thought this was a great shame. At the same time he understood that many restaurants ability to hold and fund stock over a long period was more and more difficult. The Sibi e Paucis releases aim to remedy that and allows us to purchase a small amount of his Baroli with 10 years ageing, all done in his own cellars.