Luciano Sandrone Barolo Aleste 2018

The name of the wine may have changed, but Sandrone’s famous single-cru Barolo is still, and will always be, 100% Cannubi Boschis. Boschis is a particular subzone near the northern end of the Cannubi hill. It’s a cru that is synonymous with this grower, as Luciano was the first to place its name on a label (1985), and it is located directly across from the Sandrone cellars. Sandrone farms three plots in Cannubi Boschis, totalling 1.9 hectares with south and south-easterly exposures, calcareous clay soils with some sand, and vines that are on average 37 years of age.

The Cannubi slope is complex, with soil changes, many different aspects and variation in altitude. Highlighting the uniqueness of the wines of Cannubi Boschis, as compared to the rest of the Cannubi hill, Alessandro Masnaghetti [L’Enciclopedia delle Grandi Vigne del Barolo] writes, “The wines, in general, have good body, much elegance, and more polished tannins than other Cannubi wines”. First made in 1985, this was one of the pioneering single-cru wines of the region, helping to awaken the wine world to the potential of Barolo’s varied and complex terroirs.

Aside from a little bit longer on skins, the winemaking is essentially identical to Le Vigne: destemming with a very high percentage of whole berries and a smaller percentage of whole bunches; wild yeast fermentation; aging in mostly used, 500-litre French oak casks (20% new); and bottling without filtration after 18 months.