Wine & Spirits - Winter 2020 - 60

Top 100 Wineries

O LD WO R LD

Elvio Cogno

Sandrone

ITALY | PIEDMONT
Valter Fissore is the master of the Ravera cru, vintage after
vintage, regardless of climate conditions.

ITALY | PIEDMONT
Luciano Sandrone's latest Barolo releases exude complexity and
vivacity even as they are built for long-term aging.

VALTER FISSORE

THE RAVERA CRU IN BAROLO'S NOVELLO commune
sits in the southwestern corner of the region,
open to alpine winds that cool the vines. Perhaps that's why, with the warming trends of the
last two decades, many producers have bought
vineyard property there; but some of the credit
must go to Valter Fissore, whose winery sits atop
Ravera. He has always focused on this one special cru, producing four Barolos that explore its
different facets. Fissore acknowledges his intimate connection with the vines, developed over
almost 30 vintages: "After so long, I just know
my vineyards, I know how to keep them in balance." Fissore has found a way to produce wines
that are powerful and ageworthy, yet also convey
freshness and immediate appeal. His wines are
consistently excellent with each vintage, regardless of climate conditions, making a powerful
case for specialization and earning him a ﬁfth
consecutive W&S Top 100 appearance. -S.J.

LUCIANO
SANDRONE

2013 Barolo Riserva Ravera Vigna Elena ($143,
97 points) Vigna Elena is a singular wine, the only
Barolo made entirely from nebbiolo rosé, once
thought to be a nebbiolo clone but now proven to be
a separate yet closely related variety. Much of the
variety's charm lies in its intense scents of rose and
red berry, yet it is austere in ﬂavor; Fissore always
releases Vigna Elena a year later than Bricco Pernice, his other Barolo Riserva. The 2013 Vigna Elena
opens with those signature scents, giving way to ﬂavors of ripe cherry and raspberry layered with notes
of licorice, tobacco and truffle. This wine will reward
patience, gaining complexity as the tannins soften.

2016 Barolo Le Vigne ($155, 98 points) This is
a powerful wine from a long, slow-ripening growing
season. A blend of fruit from crus in four communes-
Vignane in Barolo, Merli in Novello, Baudana in Serralunga d'Alba and Villero in Castiglione Falletto-it
offers complex ﬂavors of red cherry and plum, orange
peel and mint, framed by chiseled tannins and racy
acidity. The wine is utterly compelling and delicious
upon ﬁrst taste, then begins to shut down as the tannins enclose the fruit. A young thoroughbred, this will
improve over the next decade and beyond.

FOUNDED:

1990
OWNERS:

Nadia Cogno &
Valter Fissore
WINEMAKER:

Valter Fissore
VITICULTURISTS:

Valter Fissore,
Giampiero
Romana
ACRES OWNED:

2015 Barolo Ravera ($100, 96 points) Fissore
makes two single-plot Riservas from Ravera (Bricco
Pernice and Vigna Elena), as well as Cascina Nuova,
a wine made from younger vines. This wine comes
from the remaining 12 acres of his Ravera plots,
which makes it sound like a catch-all wine, but it is
not: It is brilliant in the warm 2015 vintage, striking a
balance between ﬂeshy cherry fruit, fresh ﬂorals and
chiseled tannins. The wine feels generous yet precise, the ﬂavors and aromas ampliﬁed by lively acidity that draws them out in a long, vertical ﬁnish.

FOUNDED:

1978
OWNER/
WINEMAKER:

Luciano
Sandrone
VITICULTURIST:

Luca Sandrone

2016 Barolo Aleste ($175, 97 points) Sandrone's
Cannubi Boschis plots sit in a south/southeast-facing
bowl that traps the morning sun, and the vines can
suffer in hot vintages, but in the fresh 2016 vintage,
they produced a wine that feels perfectly ripe, its vivid
cherry ﬂavors scented with notes of violets, rose petals and licorice. Its detail, precision and depth of ﬂavor are as impressive as the wine's harmonious integration, and the wine will only get better with time in
the cellar.

ACRES OWNED:

ANNUAL
PRODUCTION:

20,000 cases
ESTATE GROWN:

95%
IMPORTER:

Wilson Daniels,
St. Helena, CA
60

LUCIANO SANDRONE BEGAN WORKING IN THE vines
as a teenager, and worked in the cellars of several Barolo producers while pursuing the dream
of making his own wines. He eventually depleted
his life savings to purchase a small plot of vines
in Cannubi Boschis, and made his ﬁrst wines in
1978 in his parents' garage. Sandrone began to
bottle Cannubi Boschis as a single-cru Barolo
in the 1985 vintage; in 2013, despite the cru's
renown, he changed the name to Aleste-a combination of Alessia and Stefano, his grandchildren's names-to honor the next Sandrone generation. That wine was a standout in 2016, as was
Le Vigne, a wine that recalls Barolo's blending
tradition, balancing the characteristics of nebbiolo grown in four different communes. Sandrone also makes a benchmark Nebbiolo d'Alba
from the Valmaggiore cru in Roero, a project
that required eight years to launch, as it entailed
purchasing plots from 40 different owners to
assemble his holdings. He made his ﬁrst vintage
of Valmaggiore in 1994.-S.J.

2015 Barolo Cascina Nuova ($61, 93 points) The
Cascina Nuova plot ﬂows down the hill just below Fissore's farmhouse, and the vines are his youngest.
In 2015, it grew a ﬂoral, red-fruited Barolo, unfolding with layers of crunchy cherry, fennel, orange and
licorice ﬂavor. The ﬁrm tannins give it a cool, mineral
tautness. Delicious now, it will be even better in a
couple of years.

WINE & SPIRITS

BUYING GUIDE 2021

67
ANNUAL
PRODUCTION:

9,250 cases
ESTATE GROWN:

100%
IMPORTER:

Vintus, NY

2018 Nebbiolo d'Alba Valmaggiore ($54, 93
points) Valmaggiore is typically a few degrees
warmer than Barolo, which is about 15 miles away,
but this wine from 2018 shows no heat. Instead, it's
intensely ﬂoral, and its herbal red-berry ﬂavors brim
with vibrant acidity. It's hard to resist those exuberant
aromas and ﬂavors now, though if you do, the wine
has the freshness and structure to keep improving.

Wine & Spirits - Winter 2020

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