Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Purity of fruit and balance here is very impressive. Firm and very silky tannins with a long, long finish that gives the wine amazing depth and intensity. Love the spicy and dense fruit character at the end of the palate.
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Wine Spectator
A hint of oak lends this a spicy component, along with cherry, licorice and tar flavors. Racy and bright, with fine intensity and a long, tightly wound finish that seems to go on forever. Shows beautiful purity and class. Best from 2020 through 2036.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The Luciano Sandrone 2012 Barolo le Vigne shows the trademark ripeness that I so often identify in this historic product. The bouquet is round and plush with thick layers of dark cherry marmalade, blackberry preserves and dark currant. Beyond those apparent fruit aromas, Le Vigne offers dark spice and licorice with a beautiful menthol signature on the finish. The wine's natural structure is padded by soft tannins and lush fruit consistency. In all, this important wine is less vibrant and distinctive compared to other excellent vintages such as 2008 and 2010.
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Wine & Spirits
Sandrone selects fruit from four crus to make Le Vigne, blending a wine with flavors of macerated cherries and sweet vanilla, laden with notes of black spice, menthol and tobacco. The wine’s texture is smooth, its tannins having been polished during the two years it rested in 500-liter French oak barrels. Notes of lavender and orange zest brighten the darker fruit flavors as the wine evolves over several hours. The fruit and spice flavors linger vibrantly on the finish.
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.