2015 Luciano Sandrone, Barolo, Vigne Sibi Paucis

A tight and focused Le Vigne with strawberry, orange-peel and floral aromas and hints of hazelnuts. Not giving it all now. Full-bodied, very intense and focused. Extremely long and polished, tannic finish. Drink from 2023.

The Luciano Sandrone 2015 Barolo Le Vigne Sibi et Paucis delivers a good sense of freshness and brightness. It offers a very good read of the vintage with an open-knit and broad texture. The tannins still might need an extra year or two to integrate. The wine ages for a standard 18 months in tonneaux, followed by eight additional years in the bottle in a special room built at the back of the winery. Only 1,500 bottles are being released now. I came back to taste this wine 24 hours later and continued to be impressed by its freshness.

Tasted at the estate alongside the 2021, the 2015 Barolo Le Vigne boasts a reflective red color and is an introspective, deep vintage with notes of ripe cherries, polished leather, sweet tobacco, and stony earth. It offers relatively full-bodied richness on the palate, with a refined and broad-shouldered feel, and a mouthwatering, dark mineral note on the finish. Drink 2025-2035.

Lustrous mid ruby with orange tinges. Savoury, minerally nose with a subtle oak note. Complex and pulls you right in. Elegant and suave raspberry-fruit palate with finely chiselled tannins. There is fullness as well as subtlety at the same time. (WS)