9.2 The vineyards

We begin to describe the vineyards that contribute to producing Barolo Docg Le Vigne. There are five in all: Vignane in Barolo, Merli in Novello, Baudana in Serralunga d'Alba, Villero in Castiglione Falletto and Le Coste di Monforte in Monforte d'Alba.
An important piece of the puzzle has been Vignane in Barolo, an Additional Geographic Mention that especially over the last 25–30 years has established itself for its technical qualities. Beyond the pedological and environmental factors, the vineyard at Vignane has an important structural characteristic: the convenience afforded by its moderate slope and the ease of access.
Luciano was captivated by that vineyard because he had heard it praised on many occasions by Disma Abbona, a relative of the Abbona family of Marchesi di Barolo. In that area Disma had a vineyard planted predominantly to Nebbiolo but with a few vines of Favorita, with those plump, golden, very beautiful bunches that he would usually give as a gift to Luciano's family. But Disma Abbona was not willing to sell. So Luciano looked for other solutions. In particular he followed for a long time a certain Ginetto, a true gentleman in Barolo, always elegant, often dressed in a white shirt and white trousers. He was so singular that as far back as the 1970s he would go to the Canary Islands to spend the winter, when others at most went to the Ligurian coast. After various attempts, Luciano managed to secure the vineyard in Vignane, renting it at the beginning of the 1980s and purchasing it in the mid-1990s.
Exposed to the west, this vineyard gives Barolo Le Vigne an unrivalled softness. It sits at mid-slope on a landslide-prone terrain where water is never lacking.
Then came a vineyard in the Mention Merli in Novello, a village that has never been particularly highly regarded for Barolo. The only Mention in Novello that had a good reputation even in the past was Ravera, shared also with the village of Barolo.
The limited appreciation reserved for Novello probably derived from the fact that a large part of this village looks out over the valley of the river Tanaro, from where there arrive, especially in the most critical vintages, cold and damp currents that are detrimental to the quality of a wine like Barolo. Today, with a climate that has changed owing to rising temperatures and reduced precipitation, having snow in winter, a few tenths of a degree less in temperature and a little more summer humidity contributes to producing an elegant and balanced Barolo. It should be seen as a contribution to biodiversity that in recent vintages has become useful because it completes the wine. Thus meticulous and careful agronomic management, combined with the meteorological changes of recent times, have made it possible to produce in Novello as well a very interesting Barolo, with a balsamic, tropical character, with hints of peach and its stone.
Baudana is an Additional Geographic Mention of Serralunga d'Alba, starting on the ridge of the hill and descending with a southerly exposure before continuing towards the west, following the entire ridge of the hill. The highest part of the Sandrone vineyard is almost flat. To be more precise, it takes on a gentle slope in a westerly, north-westerly direction, looking towards the Rocciamelone with a 270-degree view over the entire northern Alpine arc, from the Bric Mindino to Monte Rosa, with a focus on the unmistakable Monviso.
With the acquisition of this vineyard Luciano fulfilled one of his great dreams: to give a classic blended character to his Barolo by including Nebbiolo grapes from Serralunga d'Alba, notoriously capable of contributing structure and fullness.
Although enlightened and captivated by Burgundy, Luciano never pursued an extreme approach of producing separately from every individual vineyard or Additional Geographic Mention.
It is true that he began by vinifying the grapes of Cannubi Boschis, but he did so because he believed that the vineyard in that area was one of the few capable of standing on its own and generating a complete Barolo.
However, his dream was always a blended Barolo. He loved the idea of owning several vineyards situated on different hills in the zone of origin of this wine, of vinifying them separately and then, year by year, seeking the optimal blend. He felt like a conductor who has to blend the various instruments and seek harmony: that is what his Barolo had to be.
In identifying and acquiring the vineyard at Baudana, a strategic role was played by the surveyor Ugo Ferrero, who has always remained at Luciano's side in all activities concerning the selection of vineyards and the various purchase operations.
In Castiglione Falletto, Luciano had chosen Villero, but it was not easy to reach. He was not looking for just any vineyard. Even the Rocche di Castiglione did not appeal to him, as he considered them too similar to Cannubi in Barolo. For Luciano, Villero was the fundamental piece needed to give character to Barolo Le Vigne. He searched for it for a long time until one day he was helped in the project by Sergio Moscone, who probably felt somewhat indebted to Luciano for not having helped him to reach one of his target vineyards in Monforte d'Alba.
Villero gives Barolo Le Vigne a fine note of elegance and finesse, the hallmark of the territories at the centre of the Barolo zone: rather like a clarinet among more powerful instruments such as trombones.
The Villero vineyard faces south-west and looks directly at the village of Barolo and the long Cannubi hillside. It is a cradle-shaped area, very sheltered, little exposed to the wind, capable of excelling and delivering excellent results even in cooler vintages.
The last vineyard for this Barolo is in the Mention Le Coste di Monforte in Monforte d'Alba, facing south and situated on the southern boundary of the Barolo zone. This is a vineyard that seems purpose-made to counter the climate change underway in recent years: excellent exposure, pronounced altitude and the direct, positive influence of the nearby Alta Langa, which generates freshness without the negative effects of the cold and humidity coming from the Tanaro.
Curious too is the mechanism by which Luciano managed to secure this vineyard. It was not thanks to the good offices of Sergio Moscone, who also frequented these parts. In Monforte d'Alba Luciano arrived on his own.
After building the new winery in 1999, Luciano received at the estate an old friend he had not seen for some time. This was Dino Gastaldi, also a wine producer in the Barbaresco zone and owner of a vineyard in the Barolo zone, precisely in Monforte d'Alba. Gastaldi asked Luciano whether he would be willing to vinify for him a small quantity of Barolo Nebbiolo grapes produced in that vineyard.
Luciano, in the name of that old friendship, agreed, and so for four consecutive vintages (from 1999 to 2002) he vinified that small batch of Nebbiolo for Barolo. In doing so he became aware of the particular quality of those grapes even in vintages that were not entirely favourable, such as 2002.
At Christmas of that year, in a post-vinification meeting, Luciano almost jokingly made a curious proposal to Gastaldi, saying: "If one day you decide to sell that vineyard in Monforte d'Alba, please let me know."
And so it came to pass. Gastaldi kept his word and in 2018 came back to Luciano with a very interesting proposal: he was willing to lease him that vineyard, with the possibility of selling it to him one day in the future.
And so the circle was closed. Barolo Le Vigne had its right "vineyards" from which to produce the grapes for an excellent wine. The orchestra had been completed with first-rate musicians. From that moment on it was simply a matter of conducting it well and making it play in harmony.

Today it is Barolo Docg Aleste, but originally it was Barolo Docg Cannubi Boschis. And there is more: in common parlance that vineyard from which Luciano set out to establish a property in Cannubi was called Monghisolfo or, more precisely, Monghisolfo di Cannubi. Renato Ratti in his pioneering map of the Barolo vineyards had indicated it as Monghisolfo or Cannubi Boschis.
Luciano purchased it in 1977 from the "Re cit" (the little King), born Giovanni Carlo Cabutto, nicknamed thus because he was small as a wren, the bird known in Piedmontese dialect by that term.
From that vineyard, small but prestigious, Luciano built an important project, advanced through the purchase of other plots, always small and also hard-won given the complexity of the acquisition process.
There were growers who came forward to sell their vineyard to Luciano; others who were followed over time until a final decision was made.
Then it became increasingly difficult not only to buy but even to take vineyards on lease. The last small plot was acquired in 2015, and thus the Sandrone property in Cannubi found its definitive shape.
From that vineyard that barely measured one Piedmontese giornata (3,810 square metres), step by step the current area stands at one and a half hectares. And in the future, barring drastic changes in circumstances, it will be difficult to expand this holding.

In his lifetime, Luciano took on many important bets. The one that involved him most and for the longest time was that of Barolo Docg Vite Talin. At the root of this bet is the first vineyard that Luciano began to manage in 1974, the one in Le Coste in Barolo, right above the village centre, a true morning-facing sorì, with an area of around 5,000 square metres. Luciano was not yet thirty, but he had already understood that the land to cultivate — the land that produced the Nebbioli for Barolo — was his natural domain.
To the vineyard at Le Coste, a short time later, was added another at Rivassi, not a great name given its Piedmontese meaning (uncultivated bank). But the plot was convenient, adjacent to the east of Le Coste and of modest size, around 2,000 square metres. In that area the Municipality of Barolo had planned a residential zone for the construction of detached houses, but the project had been shelved. It was an almost flat area situated below the provincial road that climbs towards Monforte d'Alba.
It could complete Luciano's first vineyard, and so between the end of the 1970s and the beginning of the 1980s he purchased it.
The last vineyard of Barolo Vite Talin is situated in the area known as Drucà, which in Piedmontese means "fallen". This is one of the vineyards where Luciano had tried to multiply the Talin vine and experiment with it in the specific production of Barolo. In those years it was a plot completely detached from the areas where the vine was cultivated, but it now forms an integral part of the whole.
Particularly curious is the origin of the plot and its name: in this area, in the past, there was the old cemetery of Barolo, where also the fallen of war (the Drucà) were buried.
To make it manageable and workable, the Municipality of Barolo had given it to a local grower to reclaim it. The grower reclaimed it and then, little by little, began to cultivate it, planting vines — but in a disorderly fashion: he had planted a mixture of varieties of little use to anyone wishing to make wine from them. So, when Luciano leased it on a long-term contract, he decided to replant it, this time with the vines of the Vite Talin project he was developing. Facing north-east, it has an area of around 2,200 square metres.

The Barbera d'Alba Doc is the result of the blending of four vineyards selected gradually in different parts of the Barolo area. We begin the story with the vineyard at Rocche di San Nicola in Novello, a plot situated practically above the village of Monchiero and therefore oriented to the south-east, with an area of 1.90 hectares.
In the early 2000s, when attitudes towards the vineyards of Novello were beginning to become more appreciative, Luciano had the fortunate opportunity to find this land, at the time practically wasteland (uncultivated), but with all the characteristics to become a fine Barbera vineyard. After an enormous effort of clearing and reclamation, Luciano quickly understood that it was the right place to plant the Barbera variety, and so in a short time the project became reality, alongside the remains of that chapel dedicated to San Nicola, a frank expression of the popular religiosity that has often guided the people of these hills.
Also in Novello, in the Additional Geographic Mention Ravera, Luciano selected a vineyard that looks north-east towards the village of Barolo. Ravera is shared between the two villages (Novello and Barolo), but this vineyard is located within the commune of Novello. Regarding this vineyard, everything began with a good neighbourly relationship between Luciano and the owner of the plot, a certain Gigi Germano, who had worked as a bricklayer but had always had a strong inclination towards viticulture. The relationship began with the purchase of the grapes produced in this vineyard, then progressed to the drafting of a lease, and finally to the purchase of the approximately 20,000 square metres of that plot.
On the higher part of the hillside ridge that descends from Monforte d'Alba towards Perno and Castelletto there was a classic Langhe farmhouse, oriented to the south with a great deal of land around it. Luciano had purchased grapes from the person who held two thirds of this property, including the house. The place had an original, somewhat curious name: Pé mol (in Piedmontese "soft foot" or "unsteady foot") derived from the fact that one of the old men of the family had a lame foot and therefore walked dragging it. Having come into contact initially as a grape buyer, Luciano gradually built a relationship of trust with the people of that house, and so in 2000, when the owners of the farmhouse had decided to sell, Luciano came forward with some caution. His company had already taken on a significant commitment with the construction of the new winery, and a further exposure concerned him. On the other hand, he feared that the asking price might be considerable, although in that area Dolcetto and Barbera were predominantly cultivated and the presence of Nebbiolo was sporadic. In reality, the asking price was decidedly below expectations, and so the purchase was quickly formalised.
For three years, riding on a wave of enthusiasm, from these vineyards a wine was produced named Langhe Doc rosso based on Barbera grapes. Needless to say, the name of that wine was "Pemol" as a reference to the area, and it carried on its label the imprint of a foot coloured violet. But it was a passing choice, abandoned within a few years.
In Barolo, finally, there is the Albarella vineyard, a plot today owned by the estate but which had been purchased in 1992 by Luca Sandrone, Luciano's brother. This vineyard belonged to a relative of Talin, born Natale Ronzana, from whom Luciano had taken on the management of his first vineyard at Le Coste. From this vineyard, already in earlier years, Luciano purchased the grapes to vinify them.
Oriented to the north-west, the vineyard is situated below the provincial Cannubi road, practically on the opposite side from where Cannubi Boschis is located. Today Albarella is an Additional Geographic Mention of the village of Barolo and is often planted to Nebbiolo for Barolo, whereas in the past this variety, so demanding in terms of environment, was little cultivated here.

It remains to describe the vineyards dedicated to the production of Nebbiolo d'Alba Doc Valmaggiore and Dolcetto d'Alba. For different reasons we avoid returning to these subjects here: for the Nebbiolo d'Alba the story can be found in the specific chapter dedicated to the 1990s.
As for the Dolcetto d'Alba, the total area is around four hectares and encompasses four vineyards situated in areas already described previously, namely Ravera and Rocche di San Nicola in Novello, Rivassi in Barolo and Pé mol in Monforte d'Alba.