Winemaker Notes
The first thing one notes about Barolo Aleste 2022 is its intense bouquet, which pairs aromas of cherry and raspberry with wood and mineral notes, underpinned by a whiff of fresh spices and sottobosco. There is something mysterious about this wine: first it hides – then it gradually reveals itself in the glass. In the mouth it is surprisingly robust and structured, but not heavy at all: it seems to ‘dance’ on the tongue. The red fruits take centre stage, followed by spicy and woody notes.The mighty tannins are in need of a couple of years to balance out the wine, though the sweet elegance of the vintage is already perceptible. The finish unites a good share of tannins with notes of red fruits and graphite.
Professional Ratings
-
Decanter
If Sandrone’s Le Vigne bottling makes a case for blending in 2022, Aleste demonstrates the pedigree of Barolo’s top sites. Hailing almost entirely from Cannubi Boschis, it conveys the warmth of the sub-district and luminosity of the vintage with mature ripe fruit. Yet brightness and purity are equally on display – as is a complex matrix of nuances. Incense, roasted chestnut, tobacco and tarragon permeate the sweet dark berry canvas. Tannins glide with silky smoothness building to a secure structure. All very well put together. Trails off slowly with nutmeg and dusty gravel.
-
Jeb Dunnuck
From Cannubi Boschis, the 2022 Barolo Aleste pours a deep ruby hue. Aromas of raspberry liqueur, rose water, and sweet earth emerge from the glass. Medium-bodied, it balances freshness and concentration with refined tannins and bright energy across the palate. Drink 2026-2046.
-
James Suckling
Blood oranges and rose petals. The palate is medium- to full-bodied, showing significant yet evenly distributed tannins, complemented by lovely fruit with discreet yet vivid acidity. Clean, with very pleasant, slightly grippy tannins in the finish. Drink or hold.
-
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The Luciano Sandrone 2022 Barolo Aleste (with the blue label) strikes a compelling balance between concentrated dark fruit and savory oak-driven complexity. Broadly textured and rich by Nebbiolo standards, the wine reveals the imprint of its aging program through lingering notes of sweet spice, toasted nut, black fruit and dried plum. The warmth of the vintage has amplified the wine's depth and textural richness, yet the various elements remain well integrated, meeting at a point of harmony. This is a generous, full-flavored expression of Aleste with considerable aromatic persistence and palate weight. Tasted one day later, my open sample had settled into a polished, silky texture.
-
Wine Enthusiast
Aleste carries Luciano's legacy forward in the most personal way possible, named for his grandchildren Alessia and Stefano and built on four decades of devotion to the Cannubi Boschis hillside. An aromatic smorgasbord of bright lifted warm fruits, flowers and spiced tea with the kind of confidence and depth that speaks to everything that came before it. Vibrant and juicy on the palate with well defined but pliable tannins that make this as approachable as it is profound. Drink now through 2050.
-
Vinous
The 2022 Barolo Aleste is laced with succulent dark blue/purplish fruit, lavender, menthol, licorice and spice. This shows lovely mid-palate juiciness and notable harmony. All of the Aleste signatures are present with no hard edges, but the 2022 naturally does not have the breadth or dynamic energy of the best years. Even so, it opens nicely with a bit of time in the glass.
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.
Responsible for some of the most elegant and age-worthy wines in the world, Nebbiolo, named for the ubiquitous autumnal fog (called nebbia in Italian), is the star variety of northern Italy’s Piedmont region. Grown throughout the area, as well as in the neighboring Valle d’Aosta and Valtellina, it reaches its highest potential in the Piedmontese villages of Barolo, Barbaresco and Roero. Outside of Italy, growers are still very much in the experimentation stage but some success has been achieved in parts of California. Somm Secret—If you’re new to Nebbiolo, start with a charming, wallet-friendly, early-drinking Langhe Nebbiolo or Nebbiolo d'Alba.
The center of the production of the world’s most exclusive and age-worthy red wines made from Nebbiolo, the Barolo wine region includes five core townships: La Morra, Monforte d’Alba, Serralunga d’Alba, Castiglione Falletto and the Barolo village itself, as well as a few outlying villages. The landscape of Barolo, characterized by prominent and castle-topped hills, is full of history and romance centered on the Nebbiolo grape. Its wines, with the signature “tar and roses” aromas, have a deceptively light garnet color but full presence on the palate and plenty of tannins and acidity. In a well-made Barolo wine, one can expect to find complexity and good evolution with notes of, for example, strawberry, cherry, plum, leather, truffle, anise, fresh and dried herbs, tobacco and violets.
There are two predominant soil types here, which distinguish Barolo from the lesser surrounding areas. Compact and fertile Tortonian sandy marls define the vineyards farthest west and at higher elevations. Typically the Barolo wines coming from this side, from La Morra and Barolo, can be approachable relatively early on in their evolution and represent the “feminine” side of Barolo, often closer in style to Barbaresco with elegant perfume and fresh fruit.
On the eastern side of the Barolo wine region, Helvetian soils of compressed sandstone and chalks are less fertile, producing wines with intense body, power and structured tannins. This more “masculine” style comes from Monforte d’Alba and Serralunga d’Alba. The township of Castiglione Falletto covers a spine with both soil types.
The best Barolo wines need 10-15 years before they are ready to drink, and can further age for several decades.