Luciano Sandrone Barolo Vite Talin 2017

Made from a unique clone of Nebbiolo (now officially called Vite Talin) that Luciano Sandrone identified in 1987 and began slowly propagating, this groundbreaking wine is one of his great legacies and was an instant sensation when first released in 2013, receiving 100-point reviews from Antonio Galloni and Monica Larner.  Today the wine comes from three small plots: Le Coste, Drucà and Rivassi. There are only 8,000 vines in production, leading to around 2,000 bottles of wine. But what a wine!

Barbara Sandrone tells us that the berry size of the Talin vines is half that of normal Nebbiolo.  In an average year, a Vite Talin berry weighs less than a gram, whereas a berry from Cannubi weighs 2.2 grams. The resulting juice is considerably denser, and the winemaking is adapted to include extended macerations, three years in large format large 2,500 litre botti and a further three years in bottle before release.

Considering the notes below we don’t need to say much. Let us just point out that this is a superb release and that, in general, you can expect a wine that is more mineral, ferrous and dark; a wine more classic in structure and personality—something encouraged by the traditional vinification—yet also offering great finesse and complexity. It is something unique, and another remarkable chapter in the history of this estate.