1989 Luciano Sandrone Barolo Cannubi Boschis

Sandrone’s 1989 Barolo Cannubi Boschis is phenomenal. I have had the privilege of drinking this Barolo several times over the last year, and have never been anything less than deeply impressed. The 1989 Cannubi Boschis is gorgeous in so many ways, but one of the things I find fascinating about the wine is the way it captures a stylistic middle ground, with a modern approach to viticulture combined with elements of traditional winemaking. This deeply layered, sensual Barolo opens with captivating aromatics that meld into expressive fruit that continues to blossom on the palate in a stunning display of class and elegance. Sweet, silky tannins frame the fruit through to the long, exceptionally pure finish. The flavor profile is quite classic, with plenty of tar, licorice, plums, prunes, dried cherries and smoke, but very little if any perceptible French oak. This is a towering masterpiece from Luciano Sandrone. Anticipated maturity: 2010-2020. Luciano Sandrone was still working full time at Marchesi di Barolo when he made his fabulous 1989 Barolo Cannubi Boschis. In the spring of 1990 Sandrone left the Marchesi in order to devote all of his energy to his own estate, and the rest, as they say, is history. Sandrone’s Barolos were built on elegance from the outset. Although Sandrone was clearly one of the early leaders of the modern school, his wines avoided the excesses of the mid and late 1990s. These meticulously hand-crafted, artisanal Barolos were vinified in steel and cement with manual pumpovers and punchdowns, then racked into 500-liter tonneaux where the wines underwent malolactic fermentation and subsequent aging. I can’t think of another property where the stylistic shift from somewhat traditional to decidedly contemporary is as noticeable within such a short period of time as it is here between 1989 and 1990. While the 1989 Cannubi Boschis (and the Barolos that preceded it) still had a foot in the past, the 1990 is clearly a forward-looking wine. Much of that is attributable to the ripeness of the 1990 vintage and the introduction of new French oak barrels from the cooper Vicard that year. I tasted the 1990 Barolo Le Vigne and Barolo Cannubi Boschis at the estate, and have had the 1989 and 1990 Barolo Cannubi Boschis from a number of cellars, including mine and that of Robert Parker, over the course of the last few months.

Luciano Sandrone’s 1989 Barolo Cannubi Boschis was brilliant. The 1989 showed off a classic, layered profile of sweet, perfumed fruit, minerals and spices. Totally delicious.

Dark red. This bottle of the 1989 Cannubi Boschis, which I purchased from a cold Italian cellar, is among the freshest I've tasted. Even today it remains a massively youthful wine, with soaring aromas of sweet toasted oak, tar, menthol and spices that are followed by a tightly wound core of fruit on a concentrated palate of exceptional length. It is an outrageously decadent Barolo that will continue to drink well for the next 10-15 years, perhaps more.