A peculiar question I’ll admit, but I’ve got my reasons for asking. I’ll elaborate later in the thread. Thanks.
I ----- Love ------ Sandrone
Not my favorite.
FWIW, during Antonio’s La Festa del Barolo last Spring, the 2008 Sandrone Cannubi came across very spoofy (although in that regard, still better than the Voerzio and the Chiara Boschis). I believe Ken V was in agreement with respect to the spoofiness of the Sandrone, but I may be mistaken there.
I really like it but have limited tasting experience with Borolo. Italian wines are something Im just starting to explore and most of what Ive bought still needs to age for a while.
Very little experience overall, but I hope their '96 Le Vigne and Cannubi Boschis are really, really good since that’s what I have.
Not sold on them at all. But I don’t have a ton of experience with the wines. Not like the wines are cheap, and I would rather have other producers.
I like Barolo.
I have not bought Sandrone in years.
BTW, in the interest of accuracy in attribution, here is Ken’s TN on the 2008 Cannubi Sandrone (and I’ve also added Greg’s as well) - it seem’s like my memory was faulty and both of these gents liked the wine more than I did.
TN from Ken V
2008 Luciano Sandrone Barolo Cannubi Boschis - Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo
Muted nose of cherry vanilla. Well made but overwhelmed by oak at this point. If the oak fades, it could be excellent. (88-94 points
TN from Greg
Tight and a bit oaky on the nose with a little black cherry framed with some rose notes. This is soft if texturally complete in the mouth silky without being opulent and showing fine cut cherry fruit on the palate, with a late arriving herb and limestone note, This is just a bit austere and dour today,with the wood tannins showing a bit on the finish, which shows a lovely blend of fresh fruit and soil tones. This is tense and elegant, showing classic Cannubi austerity, but the wood is a touch intrusive. 89pts
All that both own Sandrone and do not like Sandrone, please pm me with what you’d like to sell.
I am a Barolo lover and I thought I didn’t like Sandrone, having encountered a number of bottles that I found oaky or otherwise heavy handed. Then we drank an absolutely glorious bottle of 1990 Cannubi Boschis in Piedmont last year - balanced, powerful, sexy, appealing both to intellect and senses - and I had to revise my opinion.
I don’t have enough experience with the wines in every vintage to be able to judge how much is potentially due to a change in wine making and how much is integration over time, but the difference was significant.
Can’t really say, but most likely…NOT.
Aren’t they poster children for the oak n’ spoof camp?
Have had mixed results with Sandrone but the last one, a Cannubi Boschis 01 was a real treat and in perfect balance!
Sandrone no longer makes discernable Barolo.
Not even close to the poster child. Always used 500 liter wood, native yeast ferments, medium maceration times.
The wines are a bit matte for the first decade, then they open up nicely with rich fruit, supple textures, and a lovely purity but they dont develop all the aromatic complexity I would prefer to see. Having said that I bought the wines through the 1990s but no longer add them to my cellar, though that is due more to budgetting issues and the relative appreciation of the wines I tend to add to my cellar.
I purchased the wines from 1985 through the 1993 vintage, but was very disappointed with how they did not develop complexity with bottle age (not an easy thing to avoid doing with Barolo). As Greg notes, this is particularly notable in terms of aromatics, but they are also stillborn on the palate IME, softening, but not gaining in flavor complexity and really just surviving in bottle, rather than aging. The last vintages I slogged through tasting were the '95, '96 and '97 that a friend served side by side- they were far worse than the '93 vintages and before, with even more spoof, virtually no nebbiolo character and were astringent (at least at that time) from uncovered, raw oak tannins that had leached into the wine from their poorly prepared new barrels. I thought it quite telling that these three vintages were served at what was purported to be a double blind tasting (and indeed every other flight at the tasting was double blind), but our host decided to serve these three wines with their labels revealed, which to my suspicious mind indicated that he was rather disappointed with how they were showing as well and hoped to get a bit of traction from the labels. The only Sandrone Barolo I have had that had aged fairly well was the 1978, which was a bit rustic in personality and certainly not first division in this great vintage, but still a good, honest, workingman’s Barolo (except for the pricetag!) that was far more intersting than the spoof juice that has been made here in subsequent decades. Price aside (which I obviously find ridiculous for such a manipulated, non-Barolo), I would still rather have Marcarini, Burlotto or Oddero in my cellar in any vintage, rather than Sandrone. That there are other, more egregiously manipulated modern “Barolo” out there is not a reason, IMO, for endorsing the mediocrities that have emerged under the Sandrone label in the last several decades, and the wines should really just be recognized for what they are: modern, innocuous and overly oaky reds that clearly do not reflect (or respect) the notion of terroir in Barolo. As Rene Rostaing might ask the Sandrones, “why are you embaressed by your terroir, because there is none in evidence in your wines?” No reason to keep cutting them slack because they are expensive and Parker loves them, as the wines have a very good track record now of aging in stillborn fashion into totally lackluster and anonymous red wines. One should expect more from an expensive wine made in a great terroir.
When you think about the price, you are better to put your money other places. At least in my opinion. The wines run around in price with G. Rinaldi, G. Mascarello, B. Mascarello and even G Conterno CF. And that makes it a pretty easy choice. I guess you could argue that the styles are very different. True, but you can’t drink style. Nothing that I have tasted has ever encouraged me to look further and especially past the list above. I have enough expensive habits already.
IMO the wines are well-made as wines, but use far too many techniques which mask the subtle character of Nebbiolo. Given the high prices, I put my money elsewhere.
I’ve had excellent tasting experiences with the Cannubi both in the vintages of the 90’s and early 2000’s. I’m not as sold on the Le Vigne bottling although I have few tasting experiences of recent vintages.
the CB is the one for me.
I’m not a fan and have never bought a bottle.