2017 Barolo Le Vigne 1,5 l Luciano Sandrone

Grapes come from Villero (Castiglione d'Alba), Baudana (Serralunga d'Alba), Vignane and Merli (both in Barolo). Quite a big part of whole bunch, but crushed, while some of the tanks had de-stemmed grapes only. The times on the skins can vary per tank, some get a whole month, others only 10 days. 'We decide vineyard per vineyard. The maceration on the skins is "cappello sommerso" (submerged cap) and it may go through malolactic fermentation (MLF) while the wines are on the skins, although we prefer to have MLF after racking. It is less risky from a bacterial point of view because we age the wines on the fine lees for a long time and then put it in barrels and we want the wines to be as clean as possible before the ageing in barrel starts.' The wine was aged for 24 months in tonneaux of which 20% were new but untoasted French oak. Just mid ruby. Gorgeous ripe red-fruit nose with a peppery edge and minerally hints of iron. Just a hint of savoury oak, but very much in the background. Lots of juice on the palate and with bags of powdery but perfectly ripe tannins. Very long sour-cherry and cranberry finish with real depth. (WS)