A blend of several small parcels of vines from several communes, Le Vigne is Sandrone’s ode to the classic Barolo-wide blend that was once the norm. All the sites that contribute to Le Vigne are markedly different from each other in terms of altitude, soil and exposure, and together provide a broad overview of Barolo in a given year. Twenty-twenty-one was the second year to include Nebbiolo from Sandrone’s new holding in Le Coste di Monforte. Sandrone has been farming this Monforte d’Alba site since 2000. From this vintage, Le Vigne includes fruit from five communes: Barolo, Serralunga d’Alba, Novello, Castiglione Falletto and Monforte d’Alba.
Like Aleste, approximately 20-30% of the grapes fermented as whole-bunches, with a very high percentage of whole berries in the destemmed portion (thanks to a state-of-the-art destemmer). The macerations were managed very carefully (now a little longer than in the past but very gentle), with Luca Sandrone aiming to capture as much fruit purity as possible. The notes below, and the reputation of the vintage speak for themselves.