Luciano Sandrone Barolo Le Vigne 2020 (1500ml)

A blend of several small parcels of vines from several communes, Le Vigne is Sandrone’s ode to the classic Barolo-wide blend that was once the norm. All the sites that contribute to Le Vigne are markedly different from each other in terms of altitude, soil and exposure, and together provide a broad overview of Barolo in a given year. 2020 was the second year to include Nebbiolo from Sandrone’s new holding in Le Coste di Monforte. Sandrone has been farming this Monforte d’Alba site since 2000. So, from this vintage, Le Vigne includes fruit from five communes: Barolo, Serralunga d’Alba, Novello, Castiglione Falletto and Monforte d’Alba.

The fruit ferments spontaneously in tank before malolactic fermentation and aging in mainly used 500-litre French oak casks. Like Aleste, approximately 20-30% of the grapes ferment as bunches, with a very high percentage of whole berries in the destemmed portion (thanks to a state-of-the-art destemmer). The macerations are managed very carefully, and the bottling occurs relatively early as Luca Sandrone wants to capture the finest tannins and as much fruit purity as possible (another key to understanding the wines produced here). So, time on skins varied from 15 days to up to three weeks. Total time in oak was 20-22 months, and the wine was, as always, bottled unfiltered.

It’s hard to remember a time when a young Le Vigne tasted so alluring out of the gates. It is fresh, translucent and totally inviting from the off, with sweet red berries, strawberry, dried orange and cedar woven throughout a finely sculpted palate framed by ripe, chalky tannins. It’s a knockout Le Vigne.