9.3 The wines

First of all, also out of respect for the structural hierarchy, we describe the Dolcetto d'Alba Doc, a wine with Denominazione di Origine Controllata status since 1974. It is born from vineyards cultivated at altitude and on that "white soil", made predominantly of limestone and silt with a slight intrusion of sand, which is synonymous with elegant wine. After the separate vinification of the grapes from each vineyard and a brief finishing period, the most appropriate blend is created to give continuity to the fragrant style of the wine and to translate concretely the characteristics of the productive factors.
It is stainless steel vats that host both the tumultuous fermentation phase and the malolactic fermentation. Then the Dolcetto d'Alba goes into bottle, where it refines for at least three months before entering the market.
The bottle crowns the quality and delivers a young, fragrant wine that graces with equal authority the everyday table and the festive table. In the glass, the characteristics are an expression of youth and immediacy: the ruby colour here and there shows subtle violet reflections. The fruity fragrance dominates the bouquet with notes recalling morello cherry, plum and their preserves, together with the first hints of spiced aromas. On the palate it is delicate and enveloping, with a vigorous volume supported by a weave of ripe, well-integrated tannins. The note of freshness is provided by the right acidity, which precedes a final attack inspired by bitter almond.
Dolcetto d'Alba is a fine expression of biodiversity that Luciano has chosen to continue to produce and offer to the market, providing a particularity that allows more relaxed drinking of great satisfaction.

The Barbera d'Alba Doc is a first step towards refined fragrance, that olfactory and savoury complexity that characterises fruity wines capable of resisting the ravages of time and carrying into the future the essential characteristics of their origin. The Barbera variety, as we have already seen, is capable of adapting to various environmental situations, but if planted in the right places its response in terms of quality is even more resolute. Thus Luciano has over time selected the spaces best suited to the needs of this variety and to his wine ambitions — above all well sun-drenched plots where the vines can gather from the sun's rays all the essence, structure and fullness.
While the primary fermentation takes place in stainless steel vats, it is wooden containers of 5 hectolitres that accompany the new wine through malolactic fermentation. After around nine months of maturation, it is the bottle that refines the Barbera d'Alba for an equivalent period, making it ready for the consumer's table.
On the eye the wine displays an intense, deeply ruby colouring with pronounced cardinal red highlights. On the nose, fragrant notes of blackberries, blueberries and red fruit preserves blend with ethereal and spiced nuances. The savouriness is made more harmonious by a vibrant acidity that contributes to the elegance. The tannins too make their presence felt, but without exaggeration, and give the wine its proper structure. The finish reveals elegant notes of wood and minerals that linger in the mouth and complete a wine that is decisive, fresh and exuberant. One is left with the awareness of having tasted an elegant, determined wine, which summarises the contributions of a precious environmental complex, with the synergy between earth and sky that rises above everything.

We now describe the Nebbiolo d'Alba Doc of the precious origin of Valmaggiore, a truly heroic interpretation of the Nebbiolo variety — both for the steepness of the hill in the natural amphitheatre of this part of Vezza d'Alba, in the Roero, and for the rigorous manual management of the cultivation, and for the passion that man and nature invest in crafting this precious wine. In a life of bets and enterprises, Luciano has devoted great feeling to the construction of this Nebbiolo on the Left Bank of the Tanaro. He did so first of all with the tenacity with which he assembled the many plots necessary to complete that natural amphitheatre; then he continued by shaping this vineyard with its magical contours; and finally he completed the work by adapting the cultivation technique to the characteristics of the place to exalt its vocation and its centuries-old bond with Nebbiolo.
Valmaggiore has thus become a vineyard that is modern and historical at the same time, a witness to time past, yet faithful to its original environmental character. All around is the Roero with its rich biodiversity and its propensity to cultivate alongside the vineyard the orchard as much as the vegetable garden, the meadow as much as the wood.
Open stainless steel vats receive the must in its tumultuous fermentation, but then it is the 500-litre wooden containers that accompany the malolactic fermentation and the subsequent evolutionary phase. Nine months in bottle complete the production process, giving Nebbiolo d'Alba Valmaggiore its well-deserved refinement.
Then it is a celebration for the consumer, Italian and from many countries around the world, in discovering and appreciating the delicate yet exuberant characteristics of this splendid wine.
The colour of poppy petals heralds a fine organoleptic structure, with subtle solar reflections that gradually warm its appearance. The bouquet offers the pleasant, vivid aromas of red fruits, the just-opened rose and the meadow violet. Gradually, the spices too, with white pepper to the fore, make their appearance, bestowing full royalty on the nose. The palate is rich with fruity and spiced sensations, with the tannin and acidity, integrated as they are, delivering full savouriness in a long, layered finish.
If the encounter with the world of Valmaggiore was for Luciano like a bolt of lightning, the fullness of the wine's characteristics and its complexity reaffirm every time its unique nature.

The kingdom of Barolo opens its doors with the tradition of blending, interpreted by Luciano with rigour in his Barolo Docg Le Vigne. Years and years of rigorous research allowed him to identify the vineyards, scattered across the various villages in the zone of origin of Barolo, suited to creating a great, precious wine with a propensity for longevity. Quality, originality and pleasure are guaranteed by the Nebbiolo grapes produced in the vineyards at Vignane (Barolo), Merli (Novello), Baudana (Serralunga d'Alba), Villero (Castiglione Falletto) and Le Coste di Monforte (Monforte d'Alba). They are like the musicians and instruments of a great orchestra, capable of producing passages of harmony in the traditional style that has made Barolo noble and unrepeatable.
The production of each individual vineyard follows its own exclusive path in vinification and maturation. Then, after repeated tastings, each year a considered blend is renewed that unites complexity with structure, elegance with softness, backbone with fragrance.
Vinification and fermentation take place in open stainless steel vats, while malolactic fermentation, maturation and elevage are hosted in welcoming 500-litre French oak barrels. Then follows bottle refinement for eighteen months to give the wine the refined elegance it deserves. When time has adequately seconded the characteristics and softened any remaining rough edges, it will be the consumer's turn to celebrate, welcoming Barolo Docg Le Vigne into wide glasses alongside the most appreciated dishes.
The table is the ideal stage on which to tell its story, beginning with that elegant, solid garnet red colour recalling ripe strawberries in the light of the setting sun. Then it is the olfactory component that arouses the greatest fascination, with floral hints of violet, fruity notes of redcurrant, raspberry and wild strawberry, spiced notes of pepper and cinnamon and the charm of liquorice. On the palate, an initial youthfulness presents itself as a promise of long evolution that will bring the savouriness to merge with the structure, the softness with the depth, and harmony to prevail gradually over the rough edges of youth. The pronounced longevity will allow the characteristics of this Barolo to be appreciated without hesitation for many long years.

Once it was Cannubi Boschis, both the grape and the wine. Today Cannubi Boschis remains for the origin, but the wine is Barolo Docg Aleste. The vineyard is in the heart of the village of Barolo, on that long Cannubi hillside that extends northward from the village, offering the vine two slopes facing east and west respectively. The Cannubi Boschis vineyard is here, cultivated by Luciano since 1977, the year in which the vineyard became his property. In the productive landscape of Barolo, Cannubi is a myth, and so too is Cannubi Boschis, which was once also called Monghisolfo. Here Nebbiolo finds ideal conditions in terms of soil and other environmental characteristics, and produces grapes that, year after year, yield a precious, solid wine capable of resisting time.
In 2013, after years of reflection, Luciano decided that this wine should carry on its label a more appropriate reference. The wine is the fruit of many factors, not only the soil; also the grape variety, the climate and, above all, the human element. In the name of this originality, Cannubi Boschis remained only as the reference to the grape and the wine was dedicated a more evocative name. Perhaps more mysterious, but rich in many meanings. So, with a somewhat superstitious attitude as well, he decided to dedicate it to the new generations of the family. Thus "Aleste" was born, the synthesis of the two names Alessia and Stefano (Ale-Ste).
In the vineyard as in the winery, however, nothing has changed. The vine continues its vegetative and productive cycle as though nothing had changed, and so does the wine in the winery: the open stainless steel vats continue to accompany fermentation and maceration; malolactic fermentation and the consequent elevage continue to take place in 500-litre French oak barrels. Just as the bottle persists in refining the wine for at least 18 months before allowing it to meet the laden table.
When the time of the vineyard and the winery is concluded, a new era begins, equally stimulating: that of the glass, the table, the encounter with the taster who refuses conformity and seeks the truest emotions. In the glass, note that decisive and attractive garnet colour recalling freshly picked cherries, which little by little takes on subtle orange reflections. In cooler vintages it displays great refinement of aromas, generous yet somewhat reserved; in warmer, sun-drenched ones, it speaks of solemnity and immediacy. In any case, the characteristics repeat their notes, which recall floral and fruity hints and then gradually the enveloping ethereal quality and the noblest spices. On the palate, after an initial step that is somewhat more tentative owing to its youth, warmth and power prevail, which with the passing of the years translate into more reflective and harmonious sensations. All of this with time accompanying the evolution and not denting the certainties of a wine that knows how to resist the years without trepidation.

Finally, the Barolo Docg Vite Talin, the fruit of a long story among vines, vineyards and wines. The story of this Barolo has its origins in 1987, in the early days of Luciano's winemaking activity. Accustomed as he was to observing, noting, verifying, he had seen in the vineyard positioned at Le Coste in Barolo, among the many vines present in that plot which he was cultivating on lease, one plant that stood apart from all the others. It seemed like a trick of that nature which is wont to play with the grower and arouse his curiosity.
To Luciano the differences in the bunches were immediately apparent: they were smaller and more loose-berried compared to those of the other plants. The berries were dark, an almost black blue, with a great deal of bloom clouding the view. The leaves too had their own particular bearing: they were very deeply lobed, rough and compact. The plant's vigour also appeared to him to be lesser. All this aroused his curiosity, and so he marked it with a tie to continue following its development.
From there a project of selection and evaluation of this plant took its first steps, through a path that gradually led to the multiplication of that vine and the involvement of the National Research Council. It was not an easy or obstacle-free process. Like all the vicissitudes of life, Luciano passed through moments of euphoria and others of second thoughts. But the desire to try, to know and to seek new paths proved stronger than everything.
After so much work, with the creation of new plants and new vineyards, after the winery experimentation too had generated convincing results, the crucial vintage was 2013: Luciano realised that that wine was worthy of bearing the Sandrone name, even though there was not yet certainty that the original vine was Nebbiolo and that the wine could therefore be called Barolo. The doubts were definitively dispelled in 2017 when the DNA analysis of those plants confirmed that it was Nebbiolo and that the wine had the absolute characteristics of Barolo Docg.
From that moment Vite Talin became a full expression of Barolo. Now that everything has become full production, the grapes are vinified with total destemming and fermentation with maceration takes place in vertical 50-hectolitre wooden vats. After a variable period of 20–35 days of total maceration depending on the vintage, the new wine clarifies in stainless steel tanks before malolactic fermentation in 500-litre French oak barrels, where it remains for the following two years. After a further year in oval barrels, again of French oak, Barolo Vite Talin finally goes into bottle, where it refines for a further three years before its public debut — which takes place in practice six years after the harvest.
The characteristics are unique and surprising also in the glass: an impeccable garnet colour, assured in its elegant dress. A complex bouquet that begins with floral notes, followed by mineral and fruity ones. On the palate, fullness accompanies complexity and body. A long, soft finish invites the discovery of new sensations in a wine that displays a great propensity for longevity.
The cycle has finally closed. From that fleeting observation of an original vine different from all the others, the journey has been long, but the result is important and represents a further varietal enrichment capable of contributing to making Barolo an ever more extraordinary wine and universe.