Luciano Sandrone Valmaggiore Nebbiolo d'Alba Sibi et Paucis 2017

Sandrone Valmaggiore Sibi et Paucis is a cellar-aged release of the estate's Roero Nebbiolo, held back at the winery and issued six years after harvest.

Nebbiolo d'Alba takes in land on both banks of the Tanaro, and the Roero side is the sandy one, giving lighter and more aromatic wines than the clay of Barolo. Valmaggiore is a three-hectare amphitheatre that Luciano Sandrone singled out some thirty years ago, at a time when Roero was routinely dismissed; he had handled fruit from the area as cellarmaster at Marchesi di Barolo and trusted what he had seen. Persuading every grower on the slope to sell, terracing ground that reaches a fifty per cent gradient and replanting at 8,000 vines per hectare was an expensive gamble on soils that dry out and erode readily. Farming is organic. The wine is made in the same unhurried manner as the estate's Barolos and shows the perfumed, finer-boned side of Nebbiolo rather than its denser one. Sibi et Paucis is the estate's museum programme: a share of each Nebbiolo bottling is held in the underground cellars and re-released years later, the Valmaggiore six years after harvest, stamped on the label.

Drinking well now with a short decant and good for several more years. Serve at 16-18°C with roast duck, agnolotti in butter and sage, or a mushroom tart.

*Every effort is made to ensure the current vintage is accurate; however, variations can occur. If you are after a specific vintage, please contact us prior to ordering.