The Producer

As an old proverb says, "appetite comes with eating". And so, in the heart of the Eighties, more news arrived at the Sandrone household. Luciano tells us in his own words.
"After purchasing my first Nebbiolo vineyard for Barolo, word gradually spread that I was interested in buying more. That I enjoyed working the vineyard and producing grapes and wine was clear to everyone. This was also why many admired me and wished me well. It was 1977 and one day, an old farmer from Barolo, Giovanni Carlo Cabutto, known to everyone as the "Re cit" (the little King) – so nicknamed because he was small in stature like a wren, the bird called that way in Piedmontese dialect – suggested I buy his vineyard. He no longer felt up to cultivating it and feared it would fall entirely fallow. So I bought it. He was so pleased that it was me buying it that he reassured me about the payment terms: "te mra pàghi quandi ch'et avrai i sòd" (you'll pay me when you have the money). This was an important vineyard, a Nebbiolo planting situated right on the prestigious Cannubi hill, in the section called Cannubi Boschis. Unfortunately the vineyard was rather run-down and, so, after the purchase, I had to make a drastic decision: to replant it entirely. In the meantime another vineyard had become available, again in Cannubi Boschis practically bordering the previous one. So I bought that one too. I was happy "as a king". Those small dreams of mine were beginning to become reality".
The Nebbiolo vineyards were growing in number and surface area and so Luciano decided to try vinifying the various batches as a blend: Le Coste and Cannubi Boschis were already making a great marriage! The blending method was the traditional system of Barolo and to Luciano it seemed an appropriate choice to test it with his small vineyards too. And so, with the 1985 vintage he began production of his Barolo "Le Vigne", destined to be marketed from 1990 onwards.
As usual, novelties never come alone. And so, in that very 1985, Luciano received a most welcome visitor: Gino Veronelli, a legend of Italian wine journalism, the first to devote himself body and soul to themes of quality wine and food.
Veronelli was fascinated by that small production venture taking its first steps, just as by Luciano's desire to experiment and compare himself with the best productions of Burgundy. But Gino's "fixed idea" was another: he was the champion of separate vinification by single vineyard and so he urged Luciano to try the separate vinification of the Nebbiolo produced in Cannubi Boschis. With a promoter of such calibre one could not refuse. But at the same time Luciano did not want to abandon his original approach. So he vinified the Barolo Cannubi Boschis separately, but with the other vineyards he continued to test the blend method. Luciano's innovation in the way of producing a Barolo was precisely that of working the grapes separately according to their different origins and then blending the wines before bottling.
"With my small firm growing – Luciano interjects – and production becoming stronger, I realised that there was a need for greater continuity of work and development. I didn't yet feel ready to take the big step, namely to leave Marchesi di Barolo and devote myself solely to my own production venture. So, after yet another "family council", in spring 1986, we decided that my wife Mariuccia would leave her job at the "Marchesi" to devote her time specifically to our business. Only in the subsequent years would I take that same step myself, and we would then be joined by my brother Luca (in 1992) and our daughter Barbara (in 1994)".
Barbara, after accounting studies, had chosen a completely different career: for some years she had been working as cabin crew for a charter airline (AirEurope), while Luca, after qualifying as an oenologist, had chosen to gain experience at a fine winery in the Roero, the Deltetto in Canale. It is true that both, during the busiest periods, would come back to lend a hand, but these were occasional and sporadic contributions that – it was clear – would not have been able to yield great results.
"How many kilometres we covered in those years; – now it is Luca speaking – we'd set off in the morning to go to Verona, Bolzano, Florence or any other part of Italy and then in the evening we'd come home. We might arrive in the middle of the night or early in the morning, but there was no other way: Luciano had to be at work by dawn and I had to attend the Oenological School".
In that period, in the second half of the Eighties, Mariuccia's presence at the firm was fundamental, both in the vineyard and in the cellar. In the vineyard there was a great deal to do, especially during the initial and central phases of the cultivation cycle (tying, green pruning, retying, etc.); in the cellar, moreover, the work was enormous, particularly for the bottling operations carried out by hand. And then the first private customers began arriving at the cellar, many enthusiasts who came to the Alba hills and helped to promote the wines of the area.