Winemaker Notes
Nebbiolo d'Alba Valmaggiore 2016 is a noble wine, exemplified by its natural elegance and complex character. It has a ruby color that shows the first garnet reflections. The aromas are full and complex. Fragrant notes recall iris and aromatic herbs, then wild strawberry, pomegranate and candied raspberry. This is followed by evolved, complex fruit structure with red fruit jam and dried apricot, followed by spicy notes of cinnamon and vanilla. The taste is dry, elegant, warm and persistent. The alcoholic structure and acidity harmonize successfully and show finesse in their character. The wine will improve with proper cellaring, growing into its aristocratic heritage: complete, authoritative and harmonious.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
About ten producers make wine in the Valmaggiore cru in Roero (many of whom are reviewed here), and these wines get better each year I return to taste them. The 2016 Nebbiolo d'Alba Valmaggiore is particularly beautiful, thanks to ideal growing conditions during that year. The Sandrone family counts 3.5 hectares in this location. As an alternative to Barolo, this wine presents a soft and graceful side of Nebbiolo with delicate fruit nuances and distinct mineral etchings. Indeed, the wine is almost salty in taste. The sandy soils of Valmaggiore contribute to shaping the wine's lively ruby appearance and those tangy wild berry aromas. This wine is only aged in neutral oak.
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James Suckling
Beautiful aromas of blackberries and plums with fresh flowers, follow through to a full body, firm and silky tannins and a flavorful finish. Just a hint of asphalt and tar at the end gives it interest on the palate.
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Wine & Spirits
Fruit for this wine comes from the steep slope of Roero’s Valmaggiore cru, where sandy soils give a wine with lifted floral tones, fresh cherry flavors and polished tannins. The wine rests for about a year in second- and third-passage tonneaux, picking up subtle spice notes that complement the lively fruit flavors.
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Wine Spectator
Pure cherry flavor defines this red, with supporting notes of earth, tar and underbrush. This is firm yet well-proportioned, with a slightly chewy licorice-tinged finish. Best from 2020 through 2027.
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.
Even to this day, the Roero folklore lives on about witchcraft lurking behind its dramatic contours and obscure woods—but these stories only add to the region’s allure and charm. Actually today Roero winemakers are some of the most astute and motivated in Piedmont. While the white Arneis has attracted global attention for some time, now Roero Nebbiolo wines (elevated to the same DOCG status as Barolo and Barbaresco) are making a name for themselves. Keep an eye on any labeled with the vineyard, Valmaggiore, as Barolo producers have been investing here for years. If you’re looking for hidden gems, this is your region!