2014 Barolo Vite Talin

Barolo. Deep ruby. A little dusty and unwilling on the nose. The fruit is a little suppressed with only oak hints noticeable right now. With aeration, camphor and much less dusty. Crushed fresh red fruit with mouth-watering acidity and gripping tannins. (WS)

With a September 2019 release date, the 2014 Barolo Vite Talin is robust, with broad shoulders and beautiful aromas of spice and herbs. There is a fullness and generosity to its meaty notes, while it shows a more rustic side when put side by side with the 2015: The tannins here make their presence well known, and the wine has a wild side overall. The Vite Talin is a wine that has a way of responding to difficult harvests like this one. The grapes survived for a reason, and what you get here is not your classic approach to Barolo at all. This expression explores new boundaries, and it will be a hard wine to forget. This Barolo was born following 25 years of experimentation, and only 2,200 precious bottles were made.

The 2014 Barolo Vite Talin is shaping up to be one of the wines of the vintage. A powerful, unctuous wine, it possesses off-the-charts intensity married with striking nuance. Dark red cherry jam, plum, lavender, spice, rose petal and mint are some of the many nuances that flesh out. In 2014, the Vite Talin is a wine of extraordinary finesse, nuance and classicism. It will spend two years in 500-liter barrels and a third year in cask. Tasting the 2014, I can only wonder why the other Barolos don't get the same élevage . I won't be surprised if the 2014 one day surpasses the 2013 - it is every bit that thrilling. Wow! The Vite Talin emerges from a parcel within the Rivassi cru known as Talin with heavily virused vines that produce a minuscule crop. For many years I have tasted the Talin Barolo from cask as one of the potential candidates for Le Vigne. During all of that time, Sandrone ultimately decided to sell the entirety of the production off in bulk. Until 2013, when the Sandrones decided to bottle the wine on its own, with an old-school label that celebrates the Sandrone family's history prior to the founding of the Luciano Sandrone winery.