2011 Luciano Sandrone Nebbiolo d'Alba Valmaggiore

The 2011 Nebbiolo d'Alba Valmaggiore is ample and generous, with plenty of the soft contours of the year in evidence. Sweet floral notes, red berries, mint and white pepper add attractive aromatic top notes to balance the richness of the fruit. This is an excellent showing from the 2011. Even with all of the fullness and ripeness of the year, the 2011 retains terrific freshness.

(aged entirely in used 550-liter tonneaux): Bright medium red. Enticing perfume of raspberry, minerals, tobacco, dried flowers and red licorice are accented by a peppery nuance. Compellingly sweet and fine-grained, with pungent red raspberry and mineral flavors nicely framed by bright acidity. Highly aromatic nebbiolo from light, sandy soil in Roero. Finishes with dusty tannins and lovely lingering perfume. Has the balance to make delicious early drinking. (I also tasted the 2007 library release, which is the same wine that was released four years ago but with a special logo on the label. I found it more liqueur-like than my original bottle and drier on the finish, marginally disappointing at 89 points.)

The 2011 Langhe Nebbiolo Valmaggiore bursts out of the glass with layers of deep, expressive fruit. This is an especially rich, broad-shouldered Nebbiolo with fabulous depth, volume and tons of personality. The style is undoubtedly racy and big, but all the elements come together very nicely, even if some of the vineyard qualities of this site in Vezza d'Alba have been slightly baked out by the year. Still, there is an immediacy and a pure exuberance in the 2011 I find impossible not to love.