Luciano Sandrone Nebbiolo d'Alba Valmaggiore 2024
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The Land
Valmaggiore is not in the Langhe. It sits across the Tanaro river in Roero, in the village of Vezza d'Alba, about fifteen miles from Barolo, and the ground is sand rather than marl. The hill is shaped like an amphitheater, faces south, and in places reaches a 100% grade, a 45-degree pitch, which means every task from pruning to picking is done by hand with equipment built for the slope. Sand drains fast and holds little, so the vines struggle and the fruit comes in aromatic, with finer tannin and a shorter runway to drinkability than Nebbiolo grown on Langhe clay. The site's pedigree is old: in the nineteenth century Nebbiolo from Valmaggiore set the price for the entire surrounding territory.
The Wine
Luciano Sandrone Nebbiolo d'Alba Valmaggiore 2024 is 100% Nebbiolo. Clusters were thinned after flowering to keep the crop in line with what the vines could ripen. Fruit is destemmed, lightly crushed and held under CO2 for a warm maceration of about a day, then fermented by indigenous yeasts in open steel tanks for seven to nine days. Malolactic fermentation and twelve months of aging take place in 500-liter French oak tonneaux, followed by nine months in bottle. Alcohol is 14%. The 2024 growing season began dry, with late-March rain restoring groundwater, and then the rain returned in earnest: downy mildew pressure was heavy across Piedmont, September was wet, and an October of alternating rain and sun made picking a question of timing rather than ripeness. The result is red cherry and rose with white pepper behind it, bright acidity, and sweet, structured tannin. Drink 2027 through 2039.
The People
Luca Sandrone, Luciano's younger brother and a trained enologist, joined the estate in the early 1990s, and Valmaggiore is the project the two of them built together. They found the hill in that decade and spent eight years assembling nine acres of it out of nearly 28 separate landholdings, parcel by parcel, which is the kind of patience the Roero sand demanded before anyone thought it was worth the trouble. The first vintage was 1994. Farming is organic in practice without certification: minimal Bordeaux mixture and sulfur, composted manure every four to six years, and no shortcuts available on a slope that steep. Luca still handles the technical side of the cellar.
Food Pairing
This is the Nebbiolo you open on a Tuesday. Pizza with sausage and fennel, blistered in a hot oven, meets the acidity and the white pepper without a fight. Tagliatelle with a long-cooked pork and rosemary ragu gives the fine tannin just enough fat. Roasted chicken thighs with lemon and thyme work because the wine's structure stays light enough not to flatten the bird. Try it with a plate of prosciutto, Taleggio and grilled bread. It is a Barolo producer's weeknight wine, and it drinks like one.
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Piedmont, framed by the Alps in northwestern Italy, is a land of rolling hills and carefully cultivated vineyards. The continental climate, with its cold winters and warm summers, creates prime conditions for the Nebbiolo grape, which dominates much of the region's red wine production. The Langhe area is home to Barolo and Barbaresco, structured red wines known for their complex aromas, firm tannins, and aging potential. While Nebbiolo is the dominant grape of Piedmont, the region also makes interesting white wines like those from Arneis and Timorasso. Alto Piemonte is a separate region in the north with its own distinctive expressions of Nebbiolo, alongside other red grape varietals.
Italy - Piedmont
Nebbiolo, a prestigious grape from Italy's Piedmont region, is celebrated for its profound truffle and rose aromas, complex flavors, and ability to age gracefully thanks to strong acidity and tannins, producing the renowned Barolo and Barbaresco wines.
