2003 Luciano Sandrone Barolo Le Vigne

Impressively deep ruby-red color for the vintage. Superripe black fruit, brown spice and tar aromas reminded me of a fresher version of a top Bonneau Chateauneuf. Then sweet and layered in the mouth, with shockingly good ripe acidity for 2003. This boasts a penetrating violet florality I find in very few wines from this hot year. Not yet particularly complex but wonderfully fresh and strong. Sandrone did a second green harvest to remove part of the clusters, then picked slowly during the second week of September, his earliest harvest ever, to eliminate the dried berries. Can this really be better than the Cannubi Boschis?

The 2003 Barolo Le Vigne may have a slight edge over the Cannubi Boschis in this vintage, as the ability to blend fruit from various microclimates was a big advantage. It is a full-bodied, soft-textured Barolo with lively color and plenty of ripe red fruit, menthol and spices. This is an especially fresh, vibrant wine for the vintage, with tannins that are particularly refined. A recent vertical of Le Vigne back to 1995 found the 1995, 1997 and 1998 drinking well and the 1996, 1999, 2000 and 2001 approachable, but still with additional upside potential. Anticipated maturity: 2009-2015. Luciano Sandrone is one of the leading lights in Piedmont. No grower has managed to so brilliantly reconcile modern and traditional approaches in making wines that are soft, supple and approachable when young, but also capable of aging beautifully. I have been following Sandrone's 2003 Barolos since just after the harvest. Over the last few years they have developed remarkably, and today are among the most successful Barolos of the vintage, particularly for the softness of their tannins, something which few producers were able to achieve. Both the Cannubi Boschis and Le Vigne were perfectly fresh and intact when I re-tasted them after 48 hours had passed. "Clearly 2003 was a challenging vintage. We used less of the fruit from our warmer microclimates for Le Vigne, although obviously we didn't have that luxury with Cannubi Boschis. In a sense it is a return to the past in that multi-commune Barolos had an advantage over single-vineyard wines. We did everything we could to maintain as much freshness as possible in the wines. We fermented using lower temperatures and bottled earlier than normal." Importers: Vintus LLC, Pleasantville, NJ tel. (914) 769-3000

The 2003 Barolo Le Vigne may have a slight edge over the Cannubi Boschis in this vintage, as the ability to blend fruit from various microclimates was a big advantage. It is a full-bodied, soft-textured Barolo with lively color and plenty of ripe red fruit, menthol and spices. This is an especially fresh, vibrant wine for the vintage, with tannins that are particularly refined. A recent vertical of Le Vigne back to 1995 found the 1995, 1997 and 1998 drinking well and the 1996, 1999, 2000 and 2001 approachable, but still with additional upside potential. Anticipated maturity: 2009-2015. Antonio Galloni, Wine Advocate # 173 Oct 2007