Christian Eedes (95)

W.O. Swartland. 44% Grenache Noir, 31% Cinsault and 25% Syrah. 80% whole-bunch fermentation. Whereas quite a few New Wave red wines sacrifice fruit depth for freshness, Lourens seems to achieve both. The nose shows top notes of lavender and fynbos before red and black berries, oliver, pepper and spice. The palate is medium bodied with fresh acidity and chalky tannins. Good fruit definition, lots of intricate flavours, the finish intensely savoury.

Christian Eedes (93)

34% Grenache Blanc from Piekenierskloof, 31% Verdelho from Stellenbosch, 21% Roussanne from Stellenboch and 15% Chenin Blanc sourced from both Stellenbosch and Swartland. On the nose , white peach, potpourri and dried herbs. The palate is light bodied and tightly wound with pure fruit, fresh acidity and a very dry finish. Has a lovely restraint about it.

Christian Eedes (95)

50% Chenin Blanc, 42% Verdelho and 8% Grenache Blanc. Roussanne has been dropped from the mix this year while some of the Chenin Blanc is from the Piekenierskloof Skuinskap vineyard – Lourens opting not to release this as a standalone wine as he felt he left picking too late. Pretty and enticing aromatics of pear, peach, citrus plus hints of potpourri and dried herbs and a little flinty reduction while the palate has a dense core of fruit and comes across as entirely seamless. This is establishing itself as one of the best Cape White Blends around.

James Suckling (96)

A ripe but suggestive nose of dark cherries, dark chocolate, hot stones, cassis, brambleberry pie and bark. Yet, on the palate, this paints an altogether different picture, in which sleek tannins carry fresh layers of forest fruit long, through a compact, full-bodied palate. Powerful acidity steers it through to a restrained but chewy finish. Drink from 2024.

James Suckling (97)

Dark-berry, walnut, cedar and violet aromas with just a hint of chocolate. Full-bodied, layered and rich with ripe tannins and a vivid finish. Shows energy and a velvety texture. Deep and long. Give it two or three years to soften. Try after 2022.

James Suckling (97)

Very focused and classy on the nose with blackberries, currants, mushrooms and dark bark. It’s full-bodied with a tight palate of chewy tannins that give structure and form to the wine. Beautiful center palate of dark fruit and mushrooms. Subtle and strong. Give this at least three or four years to resolve itself. Best after 2024.

James Suckling (99)

Sophisticated aromas of lead pencil, graphite and blackcurrant. Hints of black olives and herbs, too. Full-bodied, yet tight and deep, with super precision and intensity to the tannins. Incredible balance of structure and finesse to this. Give it time in the cellar. Better after 2027.

James Suckling (94)

Lots of blue fruit, graphite and stone aromas and flavors. Medium-bodied with tight and linear tannins and a fresh, vivid finish. Punchy, yet fine, suggesting two to four years of bottle will soften the wine.

Wine Advocate (93)

This is the second year Aleste is produced instead of Cannubi Boschis, however the grapes are exactly the same. The 2014 Barolo Aleste is named after Luciano Sandrone's grandchildren Alessia and Stefano. The 2014 is still wound up and will require extra time to find its footing. The Sandrone family lost 25% of their fruit production in this challenging harvest. The wine offers fragrant notes of wild cherry and cassis with smoke, crushed stone and candied orange peel. The tannins are firm and textured. It is the palate (more than the nose) that requires more time to soften.

Wine Advocate (98)

Released ten years after the harvest, the 2007 Barolo Cannubi Boschis Sibi et Paucis is drop-dead gorgeous. This is an exciting and seductive wine that wins you over with the first sniff. The Sandrone family recently completed construction to enlarge the winery with a special room for storing bottles from the Sibi et Paucis series that is held apart for an additional ten years of bottle aging. This wine peels back into thick and velvety layers that hit the palate with divine flavor intensity. There is no way to exaggerate how beautifully this wine has come together in unity and purpose over the past decade.

Vinous (97)

All of the power and concentration of the year come through loud and clear in the 2006 Barolo Le Vigne. Dark, virile and incredibly intense, the 2006 is an imposing Barolo that still needs time to be at its best. Hints of rose petal, spice and dark red/purplish fruit open up in the glass, but only reluctantly. Readers need to be patient. With a bit of air, the 2006 shows off its notable breath and resonance. I am confident all the rest will come in a few years' time.

James Suckling (96)

Blueberries, flowers and raspberries on the nose. Full bodied, with velvety tannins and a long caressing finish. Lots of toasted oak. Impressive intensity and richness to this. Best after 2015. But so wonderful now.

Vinous (100)

The 2010 Barolo Le Vigne is brilliant. Focused and explosive in its aromatic intensity, the 2010 is fresh and wonderfully nuanced in the glass. It is also aging at a slower rate than the Cannubi Boschis. At nearly ten years of age, the 2010 is fresh, vibrant and so full of energy. It is also every bit as memorable as it was on release.

Vinous (96)

The 2014 Barolo Le Vigne once again shows the wisdom of blending fruit from different sites. If there is a vintage where blending has the potential to be the difference-maker, 2014 is it. So it is hardly surprising to find the 2014 Le Vigne in such great shape. The red cherry jam, mint, cedar and floral notes are all finely sketched. Medium in body and classy, the 2014 is beautifully textured and inviting from start to finish. All the elements are simply in the right place. Vineyard sources are Merli, Vignane, Villero and Baudana.

Vinous (96)

The 2014 Barolo Le Vigne once again shows the wisdom of blending fruit from different sites. If there is a vintage where blending has the potential to be the difference-maker, 2014 is it. So it is hardly surprising to find the 2014 Le Vigne in such great shape. The red cherry jam, mint, cedar and floral notes are all finely sketched. Medium in body and classy, the 2014 is beautifully textured and inviting from start to finish. All the elements are simply in the right place. Vineyard sources are Merli, Vignane, Villero and Baudana.

James Suckling (97)

A tight and focused Le Vigne with strawberry, orange-peel and floral aromas and hints of hazelnuts. Not giving it all now. Full-bodied, very intense and focused. Extremely long and polished, tannic finish. Drink in 2023 or onwards.

Wine Advocate (100)

I absolutely adore this wine on every emotional and intellectual level. I can still taste it today, weeks after my first sampling. The Luciano Sandrone 2016 Barolo Le Vigne is a stirring and profound expression that pulls on your heartstrings. I found it to be unforgettable, quite literally, inspiring one of those celebrated "wow" moments that we wine lovers so desperately seek in bottle after bottle. Le Vigne is a clever blend of fruit from Baudana in Serralunga d'Alba (offering the power), Villero in Castiglione Falletto (shaping the precision), Vignane in Barolo (adding to the purity of the aromas) and Merli in Novello (that helps to flesh out the fruit). This intersection of various vineyards spanning the appellation creates a pyramid of perfection and beauty. The wine shows large construction, but that fruit weight is balanced against the vivid cherry, spice, aniseed and campfire ash that gently lift from the bouquet.

Wine Enthusiast (97)

Fragrant and delicious, this gorgeous wine opens with inviting aromas of rose, sandalwood, camphor and perfumed berry alongside whiffs of truffle and French oak. The full-bodied palate combines elegance and structure, featuring ripe Morello cherry, crushed raspberry, licorice and a dollop of vanilla alongside firm, refined tannins. It's already tempting but hold for more complexity.

Wine Advocate (100)

Here it is: the newest creation to emerge from the talented hands of Luciano Sandrone and his family. To be released in 2019, the 2013 Barolo Vite Talin is a wine born from a single vine. They noticed one plant that behaved differently than the others. It produced dark and concentrated fruit. Unlike common Nebbiolo, its leaves showed shallow sinuses between the lobes. Its vigor was different, producing fewer very loose clusters with small berry and seed size. The Sandrone family first noticed this vine in 1987 and named it Talin (a dialect version of the Italian name Natale) after the farmer who originally had the vine. For years, they vinified fruit from this vine separately in order to study its progress. They had a hunch that this mysterious vine was indeed genetically Nebbiolo, and they eventually received confirmation of this from the University of Turin. With this, they earn the right to call this wine Barolo. The massal selection is from Le Coste, and Barolo now results in less than one hectare of vines (6,000 square meters) and less than 2,000 bottles produced per year. This first vintage celebrates the 40th anniversary of the estate (1978-2018). The wine opens to an intense, dark color with extra pulp, power and structure in the mouth. The tannins are soft and rich. The wine is fermented in oak with maceration times that range from 20 to 25 days. It is then aged in tonneaux for two years before going into oval-shaped bottles for another two years before its commercial release. In total, it completes six years of aging at the winery. This is a game changer for the Sandrone family and for Barolo. What I find fascinating is that Barolo Talin takes us away from the discussion of vineyards and crus. It reminds us that the Nebbiolo grape is ultimately what is behind every great Barolo that we love. This wine takes us to the heart of Nebbiolo.

Vinous (93)

Full, bright red. Subdued but deep aromas of smoky red fruits, plum, dried rose, camphor and game; Barolo meets Burgundy. Fat, lush and compellingly sweet; broader and suppler today than Le Vigne, conveying an impression of lower yields. Already shows compelling depth. Here the tannins seem finer and sweeter, or is there simply more powerful buffering material? Lovely finishing flavors of red fruits and spices.

Vinous (95+)

Good bright ruby-red. Deeper but less forthcoming on the nose than Le Vigne, hinting at black cherry, menthol and flowers. Then broader and deeper on the palate, conveying a more classically dry impression than the wonderfully sweet, round 2007. As creamy as this is, it's dominated today by its impression of energy and medicinal black cherry reserve. Most impressive right now on the tightly coiled, rising, electric finish, which unfurls spectacularly as the wine sits in the glass. A great expression of Cannubi terroir.

Vinous (97)

The 2010 Barolo Cannubi Boschis is just starting to show the first signs of aromatic maturity. Dark and dense on the palate, the 2010 remains massively tannic in feel, though. Tasting the 2010 next to the current releases shows the style prevalent at the time that favored more overt fruit, greater extraction and heavier oak signatures. Black cherry, espresso, chocolate, menthol and dried flowers all develop as the 2010 opens up with time in the glass. This is dark, virile and powerful in style; I would wait a few years, as it is going through a phase of closure today.

Jeb Dunnuck (95)

The 2019 Châteauneuf Du Pape is flat-out brilliant, and readers looking for an incredible wine that will drink well for upwards of two decades should back up the truck on this one. Incredible black cherry, Provençal garrigue, pepper, and licorice notes give way to a full-bodied, perfectly balanced, seamless 2019 with ripe tannins, no hard edges, and a great, great finish. You could safely put this up with the crème de la crème in a blind tasting and it would do just fine. The blend is 70% Grenache, 15% Mourvèdre, 12% Syrah, and the rest Cinsault, aged mostly in concrete tank, with 12% brought up in old barrels.

Burghound (93-96)

Ripe aromas include those of plum, dark cherry, warm earth and a whisper of the sauvage. The supple, delicious and dense big-bodied flavors flash enormous power and drive that really builds from the mid-palate to the explosively long and sappy finish where the only nit is a hint of warmth. Note that this is very firmly structured and in need of at least a decade of keeping and should reward almost two.

Burghound (93-95)

This too is firmly reduced. There is almost painful intensity to the beautifully delineated and mineral-driven broad-shouldered flavors that possess a highly refined textured before culminating in an almost crisp, moderately austere and wonderfully persistent finale that is quite firmly structured. This is a bit atypical but no less attractive for it and a Bèze that should amply reward a decade plus of cellaring. Lovely.

Burghound (91-94)

A notably fresher nose offers up notes of various red berries along with a plentitude of floral nuances. There is also better energy on the palate of the medium-bodied flavors that exude evident minerality on the saline and lingering if again mildly rustic finish. With that said, this is much better-balanced.

Burghound (88-91)

A somber nose half-heartedly offers up notes of forest floor, earth and leather on the essence of red berry fruit-scented aromas. There is better volume and muscle to the bigger and richer if decidedly grippy and somewhat short finish. This too may lengthen out but today it seems a bit clipped and compact.

Burghound (91-93)

A ripe yet cool nose reflects notes of black raspberry, poached plum and a lovely violet top note. There is very good volume to the caressing yet muscular medium-bodied flavors that deliver fine length and even better depth. This should be excellent in time.