1989 Barolo Cannubi Boschis

Luciano Sandrone was still working full time at Marchesi di Barolo when he made his fabulous 1989 Barolo Cannubi Boschis. In the spring of 1990 Sandrone left the Marchesi in order to devote all of his energy to his own estate, and the rest, as they say, is history. Sandrone's Barolos were built on elegance from the outset. Although Sandrone was clearly one of the early leaders of the modern school, his wines avoided the excesses of the mid and late 1990s. These meticulously hand-crafted, artisan Barolos were vinified in steel and cement with manual pumpovers and punchdowns, then racked into 500-liter tonneaux where the wines underwent malolactic fermentation and subsequent aging. I can't think of another property where the stylistic shift from somewhat traditional to decidedly contemporary is as noticeable within such a short period of time as it is here between 1989 and 1990. While the 1989 Cannubi Boschis (and the Barolos that preceded it) still had a foot in the past, the 1990 is clearly a forward-looking wine. Much of that is attributable to the ripeness of the 1990 vintage and the introduction of new French oak barrels from the cooper Vicard that year. I tasted the 1990 Barolo Le Vigne and Barolo Cannubi Boschis at the estate, and have had the 1989 and 1990 Barolo Cannubi Boschis from a number of cellars, including mine and that of Robert Parker, over the course of the last few months.

This incredible dinner was organized around two themes; an in-depth look at several bottlings of the 1964 Dom Pérignon and a survey of Bruno Giacosa’s 1989s and 1990s, with a few bottles added for further perspective. Executive Chef Mark Ladner prepared a fabulous menu to go with our wines.

The following wines were tasted at a class on Barolo and Barbaresco I held at Crush Wine and Spirits in mid-town Manhattan in February 2006. The evening provided a great opportunity to check in on a few new releases as well as taste some of the region's benchmark wines from nearly all of the most important vintages back to 1961.

For our January meeting my local tasting group gathered to survey the wines of Francesco Rinaldi and Luciano Sandrone, two producers who represent different schools of thought when it comes to Barolo. By the time the evening was over however, we had also opened terrific bottles from Bruno Giacosa, Bartolo Mascarello, and Giacomo Conterno. Not a bad way to spend a cold winter evening. On this night I was fortunate to host the group at my house. For the occasion I prepared a simple meal to accompany the wines, including tagliolini al ragu (featuring pasta directly from Alba), osso buco, and a selection of cheeses. As always, a great time was had by all.

We started with a selection of wines from Francesco Rinaldi, a producer whose wines I have only tasted sporadically over the years. As much as I love traditional Barolo, the house style here is on the austere side, and frankly a bit much for me. Some might say the wines simply need time to reach maturity. That may be the case, but even the wines from 1958 and 1964 retained the estate's characteristic unyielding, monolithic personality and it is not likely that any amount of further bottle age will alter their fundamental qualities. That said, several of my fellow tasters found the wines captivating and more enjoyable than I did. Regardless, this was a great opportunity to taste this estate's wines over a span of years including many historic vintages such as 1958, 1964, 1971, 1982, and 1985. The bottles were all pristine and the wines have held up extremely well.

Our next grouping consisted of two wines served blind. Giacosa's 1986 Barbaresco Santo Stefano and Bartolo Mascarello's 1980 Barolo show the heights Nebbiolo can reach in the hands of a serious producer even in lesser vintages. Both wines were outstanding and while clearly not at the level of each respective producer's finest wines, they offer a compelling mature-Nebbiolo drinking experience today. We then moved into a flight of Luciano Sandrone's great Barolos from the 1980s. Over the years Sandrone has been the producer who has most successfully bridged the gap between traditional and modern styles in Barolo. Tasting these wines together was a revelation, allowing us to track this producer's evolution. The only thing missing was a bottle of the mythical 1990 to cap things off, but as the song goes, you can't always get what you want.

After several hours of tasting and debating we arrived at our final flight. The theme? Monfortino old and new. We were fortunate to taste an impeccable bottle of the 1978 Monfortino, which is on my short list as one of the greatest Barolos ever produced. Tasting this wine from a perfect bottle is always an unforgettable experience. With it we paired the 1998, the most recent release. It was a great way to finish off the dinner.

From his first vintage in 1978 Luciano Sandrone set out to make a more approachable and drinkable Barolo. No one has managed to bridge tradition and innovation as brilliantly as Sandrone, rendering pointless any of the typical arguments in favor of one winemaking philosophy versus the other. Over the years Sandrone has turned out a stunning group of wines, often reaching stratospheric heights. Although Sandrone's wines are accessible when young, they also age beautifully as is demonstrated by the wines from the 1980s. Yet as magical as the older wines can be, Sandrone believes his recent releases are even better, saying “today we know so much more about how to work in the vineyards and in the cellar.” I consider Luciano Sandrone's Cannubi Boschis to be one of a handful of benchmark wines for the region, well worth the effort of finding and cellaring.

Sandrone is one the most meticulous producers I have ever met. He tends to his vineyards and winery with extraordinary passion and precision. Sandrone's plots are in the Cannubi Boschis (also known as Monghisolfo) vineyard, a seven hectare stretch that lies on the same hillside as Cannubi. As I wrote in Issue 2, the estate's holdings are divided into three sub-plots which have slightly different characteristics, and are therefore harvested and vinified separately. The mostly south-facing plots and this producer's preference for very low yields result in rich, concentrated wines that represent contemporary Barolo at its very best.

In hot vintages, Sandrone's Barolo drinks well upon release, while in fresher vintages this Barolo seems to start hitting its stride around age 10. In general, I find the wines from the more classic vintages show greater complexity in both the aromas and flavors, as well as possessing more length, freshness, and better overall balance. One of the interesting aspects of doing a vertical like this is observing which wines keep the attention of tasters more than others. While wines like the 1997 and 2000 are no doubt beautiful, they are also wines of less complexity that can be understood immediately, with a minimum of fuss. The 1996, 1999, and 2001 are great wines because they show much more precision and delineation in the flavors, along with significant evolution in the glass, which invites you to come back to the wines time and again. Sandrone adds “I tend to prefer the fresher, classic vintages because the wines have much more typicity of Nebbiolo, although I do prefer my 1990 to the 1989.”