From: Piedmont, Italy
Varietal: Nebbiolo
Taste and Critical Acclaim: Red cherry and raspberry perfumes mix with rose petal and licorice, framed by a hint of pepper. On the palate, it is mid-weight and nicely structured with red cherry and blackberry fruit. It shows great sweetness in the mouth but is never cloying - it is a wine that speaks softly yet forcefully. The tannins are long, ripe, and very structured but delicately framed, and its long, dry finish ends with a mineral note—a candidate for aging.
Vinous, 93 points
Falstaff, 92 points
Wine Advocate, 92 points
Wine Enthusiast, 91 points
Wine & Spirits, 93 points
Pairing: Just writing about this wine makes me crave a Napolitano style pizza topped with roasted garlic, shallots, and wild mushrooms, whether homemade or from your favorite pizza place. The 2020 Sandrone Nebbiolo d’Alba Valmaggiore will pair easily with dishes that lead with strong flavors. Slow-braised meats, ragu, aged cheeses, duck confit, any dishes that incorporate truffles, and of course, mushrooms are all great options. Pressure Cooker Porcini Risotto recipe from Lorna Sass, adapted by Mark Bittman for the NYT.
About. Luciano Sandrone is one of the most iconic producers in Barolo, and his is both a well known and extraordinary story. He started to learn viticulture at the age of 14 or 15, and after years of work as a cellarman he depleted his life savings and purchased his first vineyard on the Cannubi hill in 1977, though he could only manage his land on the weekends while he continued to work. He made his first vintage in 1978, in the garage of his parents, and then spent years refining his ideas about how to make a wine of distinction and utmost quality that respected the traditions of Barolo while incorporating new ideas and understanding about viticulture and vinification. He made every vintage until 1999 at home, until the winery he constructed in 1998 was ready for use.
Sandrone's wines are sometimes described as straddling the modern and traditional styles in the region: elegant, attractive and easy to appreciate right from their first years in bottle, but with no less power and structure than traditional Barolos. Along with the extremely low yields in the vineyard and an obsessive attention to training, pruning and harvesting, Sandrone has a very rational approach in the cellar. This approach, however, is also unique and outside of simple classification: Sandrone subjects his wines to medium-length maceration period, shorter than traditional, but makes limited use of new oak in the maturation process, which takes place in 500 liter tonneaux, all signs of a more traditional approach in the cellar. The entire range of wines, all limited in production, are jewels of impeccably balanced concentration and precision, and the ability to age for long periods of time.
