1996 Barolo Cannubi Boschis

Luciano Sandrone's 1996 Barolos are both gorgeous. These wines are a poignant reminder of how far Sandrone has come since then. The 1996s were made in Sandrone's original winery, a small, tiny facility with none of the space or modern comforts that the new cellar provided starting with the 1999 vintage. Sandrone is one of the very few growers who found a way to make striking, contemporary wines, while avoiding the excesses of some of his peers.

The first [Italian Wine Weekend[ (http://vinous.com/articles/italian-wine-weekend-at-del-posto-nov-2009) was held in New York City on November 12-14, 2009. The event, loosely based on Daniel Johnnes’s La Paulée, was held to benefit the Slow Food University of Gastronomic Sciences in Pollenzo, Italy. As might be expected for any event in its first year, there were some rough spots, but both dinners I attended at Del Posto were packed. The charity auction raised almost $400,000 for the University, a great achievement by any measure. I am particularly grateful to the generous bidders who purchased the two dinner lots I was involved with. I hope the organizers, participating restaurants and wineries will make Italian Wine Weekend an annual tradition.

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.”