2012 Luciano Sandrone Barolo Cannubi Boschis

Brilliant, bright ruby with a fine garnet sheen. An impressive and dense nose, showing notes of plum, pomegranate, raspberry, plus some leather and truffle. Round and supple in the attack and course, with great balance - initially fine fruit, then firm tannin develops before the very long finish.

The 2012 Barolo Cannubi Boschis is a solid and tighter wine compared to the 2012 Le Vigne. Having said that, it veers close to being too austere and hard-bodied, especially at this young stage of its life. Of Sandrone's two new Barolo releases, this wine definitely needs more time to evolve and soften with extra years of bottle aging. The tannins are more evident and the wine's firm backbone acts to support dark fruit flavors with distant accents of spice, licorice and tobacco.

The 2012 Barolo Cannubi Boschis opens with beguiling aromatics redolent of crushed rose petal, spices, mint and new leather. Wonderfully layered and nuanced, especially for the year, the 2012 offers good freshness to match its inviting, supple fruit. I would prefer to drink it sooner rather than later, while its alluring, open-knit personality is on full display. In 2012, the fruit tends towards the redder end of spectrum, unusual for Cannubi Boschis, which usually tends towards darker shades of expression. The 2012 is perfumed, lithe and super-classy from start to finish.