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  • Country ranking ?

    161
  • Producer ranking ?

    31
  • Decanting time

    2h
  • When to drink

    now to 2035
  • Food Pairing

    Roast lamb served medium-rare to well-done

The Tb points given to this wine are the world’s most valid and most up-to-date evaluation of the quality of the wine. Tastingbook points are formed by the Tastingbook algorithm which takes into account the wine ratings of the world's best-known professional wine critics, wine ratings by thousands of tastingbook’s professionals and users, the generally recognised vintage quality and reputation of the vineyard and winery. Wine needs at least five professional ratings to get the Tb score. Tastingbook.com is the world's largest wine information service which is an unbiased, non-commercial and free for everyone.

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"The 'Le Vigne' is a simply gorgeous wine in this vintage, offering an elegant, refined character along with the freshness and purity you can expect from Sandrone. 'Le Vigne' is sourced from four different vineyards across the region; Vignane (Barolo), Merli (Novello), Baudana (Serralunga d’Alba), and Villero (Castiglione Falletto), all adding their own individual characteristics to the wine. As this slowly opens it releases gorgeous aromatics of fresh strawberry and rose petals along with eucalyptus, spices, minerals and citrus peel accents. This is remarkably structured around silky tannins and demonstrates incredible overall balance and focus leading to the extremely long, tight gripping finish. Today, this only offers a peak of its  potential, but the quality Sandrone is known for is already quite evident. Readers should tuck this away for a decade and allow it the time it demands." 
95 Points International Wine Report
 

"Sandrone’s 2012 Barolo Le Vigne is fresh, delineated and totally inviting. Freshly cut flowers, sweet red berries, mint, orange peel, chalk and white pepper make a strong first impression. Precise and finely sculpted throughout, Le Vigne has a bit more energy and aromatic presence than the Cannubi Boschis, and a touch better balance." 
94+ Points Vinous Media
 

"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. The 2012 Luciano Sandrone wines are very good, but remain far from the amazing heights achieved by this historic winery in the best years. Like many of the wines from this vintage (across the various townships that make up the appellation), they are slightly less expressive and they speak at a lower volume."
93 Points Wine Advocate
 

"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." 
93 Points Wine & Spirits Magazine
 

 

"Sandrone's Cannubi Boschis gets all the attention, but insiders know that in many vintages it is this wine that offers great precision and a steelier backbone.  This is a long, lifted Barolo that will age better than its stablemate." 
90 Points Decanter

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The Story

Barolo Le Vigne is often a dark and impenetrable wine in its youth. With proper cellaring, this wine reveals more classic Barolo aspects of black cherries, tar, violets and roses. This wine can outlive the Cannubi Boschis bottling in great years: Le Vigne shows more tannins than its brother and possesses amazing freshness and length.

Le Vigne is a wine created from four different Nebbiolo vineyards, each of which brings its own contribution. This union generates an exceptionally complex wine that is round and harmonious on the palate, with fruity and spicy notes, and this approach of blending together plots is in fact the traditional one in Barolo.

 

The first vineyard, Vignane, is situated in the historical part of the Barolo appellation and shares many characteristics with Cannubi but does not possess the latter's aromatic complexity.  The wines show softness and elegance, and a distinct mid-palate mouthfeel that enhances the sense of richness when combined with other, more austere grapes.  The second vineyard, Merli, is located in the Novello part of the appellation, with the Sandrone section in a south-southwest facing bowl that captures the afternoon light perfectly.  The wines made from here are earthy and robust but with good aromatic complexity. The third vineyard, Baudana, is located in Serralunga d'Alba. The 2011 vintage marks the first time that Luciano Sandrone has included fruit from a fourth vineyard, Villero, a 3.7 acre plot in Castiglione Falletto, which they recently acquired via a long-term lease.

 

Each vineyard is vinified separately, and after destemming and light crushing, the must is covered with CO2 for a gentle warm maceration of approximately a day.  Alcoholic fermentation begins about 24-36 hours later from native yeasts.  A gentle maceration takes place in upright open-top steel tanks for the first 9-15 days of alcoholic fermentation.  Immediately after alcoholic fermentation, which takes 28-30 days, malolactic fermentation takes place in 500 liter French oak casks.  The wine is aged in these casks for 24 months, followed by 18 months bottle aging.  Around 1,300 cases are produced in a typical vintage.

 

Ancient art. Le Vigne Barolo interprets the ancient handed-down wisdom and tradition of Langhe and Barolo of assembling the Nebbiolo grapes from various vineyards. We interpret this historic practice by working only with indigenous yeasts and by keeping the grapes of each vineyard separated during the fermentation and wood ageing, rather than combining them during fermentation.

A perfect diagonal. We meticulously selected four vineyards so as to bring out all the characteristics of the Barolo area. The vineyards of Baudana in Serralunga d'Alba, Villero in Castiglione Falletto, Vignane in Barolo and Merli in Novello form a perfect diagonal across the area which encompasses different terrains: light and sandy, more compact and deep, and all at different altitudes and exposures.

Every year is a new discovery.Harvested, vinified and aged separately, only the best lots are mixed together during the assemblage so as to express the uniqueness of the vineyards and enhance the particularities of each vintage.

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Latest Pro-tasting notes

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Written Notes

More spice and less leafy maturity than the Marcarini La Serra 2012 just tasted. Still with some red fruit on the nose. Bone, bone dry but the tannins are exceptionally fine and there's still a lot of fruit to balance. Terrific wine.

  • 93p
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Origin

Piedmont, Piedmont
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