Community Tasting Notes 14

• Juliansi Likes this wine: 91 points

  December 27, 2023 - Wonderful.. thanks JY bro, for sharing this at HS, K and Romz's triple birthday recently in Tang Room. Multiple Barolos for our afternoon, which is not something I get to enjoy very often.
  
  Red fruit dominant on nose and palate, with grippy tannins. Structure was beautifully lineated and well defined. In fact, it came across rather New Worldish, I thought perhaps 2016 Napa.
  
  Evolved into light mineral and floral notes, with those cola and lovely tea notes as well as licorice and truffles on the elegant finish.
  
  In hindsight, this was clearly a warm vintage Barolo with a modern feel and such opulence on the mouthfeel. Wait circa 10-15 years, and this could very move from very-good to excellent.
  
  100% Nebiollo, which most of us guessed correctly. Malolactic fermentation takes place in 500 liter French oak casks. It is aged in these casks for 24 months, followed by 18 months of bottle aging.
  
  Full sun exposure at the family's historical vineyard Cannubi Boschis resulted in a 2015 Barolo Aleste characterized by its richness and structure.
  
  The warm conditions of midsummer are immediately evident in the nose where black fruits jump from the glass.
  
  The cool fall nights allowed the development of the excellent acidity and ripened the tannins slowly and fully.
  
  2015 was in fact characterized by a period of extraordinary heat, followed by a milder period that allowed the perfect maturation of the grapes.
  
  7 weeks of extreme heat from the last week of June to August 14 were ended by a series of strong storms that rapidly brought cooler temperatures for the near-perfect maturation during the last 10 weeks of vegetative cycle.
  
  The Sandrone team had learned much with regards to timing and its importance for the work in the vineyards over the last 20 years. Key practices, such as more careful defoliation, greater freedom of natural vegetative growth and especially the careful management of timing the vineyard practices have been optimized for best results.
  
  It was these many innovations that they developed over the hottest years were put in practice during 2015 to get ripe, balanced fruit and the final result of our vineyard management is evident in the glass!
  
  Luciano Sandrone dedicated his beloved Cannubi Boschis bottling to his grandchildren, Alessia and Stefano, relabeling the Barolo "Aleste," a combination of their names.
  
  An appropriate way to end the year, and pay tribute to Luciano Sandrone who passed away earlier this year in Jan 2023 at the age of 76.
  
  Luciano Sandrone, was part of a movement to elevate quality in Barolo for more than four decades.
  
  Sandrone built his wine business from a tiny 2.5-acre parcel in the appellation of Cannubi to 67 acres stretching from Barolo to Serralunga d’Alba and neighboring Roero.
  
  Sandrone gained acclaim as one of the so-called "Barolo Boys," young Barolo producers who tried new ideas and learned from other wine regions.
  
  The group, corralled by de Grazia, included Elio Altare, Domenico Clerico, Giorgio Rivetti and Enrico Scavino of Paolo Scavino. Sandrone may have not been bound by tradition, but he didn’t opt for modern techniques like rotary fermenters and small barriques for aging.
  
  Grateful to have this special Barolo, and at over USD 150.. it is not a surprising price-point as only 800 cases are produced annually.
  
  Tang Room, Malaysia
  Romz, Hann S and Kelvin's birthday celebration
  27th Dec 2023

  Comment

• SH Wu wrote: 93 points

  October 28, 2023 - Takes quite a while to open. Dark/black fruits intermingle with the barrel influences of chocolate and spice. Lavendar florals help bring this to an elegant and long finish.
  
  This really needs some air, as eventually, the sweet, ripe fruits integrate with the tannins and hit all the right spots for me.

  Comment

• il_diavolo wrote: 93 points

  July 8, 2023 - Clearly a warm vintage Barolo on the modern side - the latter not based on oak but the dense mouthfeel. Very ripe and seductive - sweet cherry, plum and licorice. Very good as long as you are aware of the context.

  1 person found this helpful Comment

• Klugi Wine Likes this wine: 95 points

  July 1, 2023 - Quite young Barolo which needs at least another 3-5 years to mellow.
  The bouquet offers violets, sour cherries, rose pedals and domwild strawberries.
  The palate quite fine in the beginning but with time the young tannins take over and let you think this needs a lot of time.

  1 person found this helpful Comment

• FlyPig Likes this wine: 93 points

  December 26, 2020 - Fun to try one this young, but even after 3 days this was still crazy primary. All the raw materials there for this to show its stuff in 5+. Hold.

  2 people found this helpful Comment

Pro Reviews 5

Wine Definition

• Vintage 2015
• Type Red
• Producer Luciano Sandrone
• Varietal Nebbiolo
• Designation Aleste
• Vineyard n/a
• Country Italy
• Region Piedmont
• SubRegion Langhe
• Appellation Barolo
• UPC Code 8022534115755

Community Holdings

• Pending Delivery 8 (1%)
• In Cellars 1,071 (88%)
• Consumed 136 (11%)

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