BAROLO DOCG "ALESTE" 2017 - LUCIANO SANDRONE

Denomination : Barolo DOCG

Vintage : 2017

Alcohol : 14.5%

Region : Piedmont (Italy)

Format : 0.75 l

Grapes : Nebbiolo 100%

Tasting Notes

The warm vegetative cycle of 2017 gave Barolo Aleste an intense, fruity and dense structure. The typical sweet aromas of red cherry and raspberry are present, with a touch of oak and complex balsamic notes.

On the palate the wine fills the mouth, it is full and rich, robust, heady in the front, then structured in the center and in the back.

The red fruit flavors are deep and rich, as is typical of the territory in a warmer vintage, followed by a well-structured medium palate, with bold tannins that will need 4-6 years of bottle aging to soften.

The fruit imprint is balanced by a persistent mineral finish with fine-grained tannins. This precious soil always offers us mature, full and elegant wines - and 2017 is a great example for a medium-term winery.

Trend of the 2017 vintage

Warm and dry are the words that briefly describe the 2017 vintage. We should also remember the good temperature variations between day and night that gave us relief even on the hottest days of July and August.

The mild winter stimulated the early budding of the plants. An anomalous return of the cold in April, which brought the frost back to the valley floor, slowed down the vegetative path. In pre-flowering and flowering, the cold determined the selection of the berries, favoring the formation of more sparse bunches with better air circulation. The establishment of the anticyclone ensured stable weather, favoring maturation earlier than the average.

The summer, hot and dry, but with good temperature variations, guided the gradual ripening of the grapes with a sure hand. In particular, veraison occurred well in advance, even in the earliest vintages.

Starting from the first week of September, temperatures dropped significantly and a trend closer to the seasonal averages was noted with significant temperature changes between day and night. The polyphenolic profile of black berried grapes with a medium - long vegetative cycle, such as Nebbiolo and Barbera, benefited most from this situation, which recorded data that differ from other "hot" vintages. In fact, this year there are better values ​​both in terms of quantity, that is of accumulation of anthocyanins and tannins, and in terms of extractability, the latter essential factor on aging wines.

In summary, it was an early vintage, but the vine was nevertheless able to complete its development in a complete way.

There was a lower quantitative yield in the vineyard. Based on the findings, we can certainly remember this year as one of the earliest in recent years, given that the Nebbioli harvest began in the second decade of September and ended at the beginning of October, about two weeks early. than the norm.

The 2017 harvest takes its leave leaving us wines of great prospect, compared to the fears of early summer, confirming once again the great vocation.

The harvest operations took place on September 27th.