Luciano Sandrone Dolcetto d'Alba 2016

Sandrone's Dolcetto has earned its place at this varietal's top table. In his seminal book Barolo to Valpolicella, Nicolas Belfrage describes the Sandrone Dolcetto as a "mouthful of sheer fruit, but with guts." That book was last published in 2004, and the wine has only improved since then. The beauty of this atypical bottling lies in its superb structure, texture and balance that can only come with perfectly ripe fruit.

The opulence of the fruit is perfectly balanced by superb freshness that is a product of the high altitude vineyards that gift us this wine: Crosia and Revassi in Barolo, Castelletto and Cascina Pe Mol in Monforte d'Alba and Ravera in Novello. All are outstanding sites that sit between 350-450 metres above sea level. The 2016 is a super Dolcetto vintage. There's also subtle and complex hints of earth and minerals. Made without any wood contact, each parcel is vinified separately before blending, and only natural yeasts are used during the fermentation.