An “alluring” Barolo Riserva
from Elio Sandri
96 points for this “iron fist in a velvet glove”
2015 Elio Sandri Barolo Riserva Perno (750ml)
$74.89 $69.89 ea. (In Stock) - Buy Now
Lowest price online and 18% below the national average!
"For those of you who want to know what Barolo was like decades ago when it was an insiders' wine, before it became coveted like it is now, well, this is it." - Antonio Galloni
Grape growing in Piemonte goes back thousands of years, and the Sandri family has been growing in Monforte d’Alba since the 1800s. Like many growers, they used to sell off their fruit, but now keep a very select part of the harvest to produce fewer than 2,000 cases of wine.
In Monforte d’Alba there is a small hamlet called Perno, which gives its name to the vines around it, and Disa is a subzone of Perno and the name of Sandri’s farm, Cascina Disa. A traditionalist in his winemaking, Sandri wants the people who work with him to slow down, "keeping one hand in their pocket, so they can’t rush…”
The small-production Nebbiolo grapes are harvested at night, fermented with native yeast in old Botte neutral wood tanks, and they are aged longer than the required 3 years in bottle for the appellation. The vineyard at Perno is east facing and cooler. Farming is Certified Organic on hills too steep for a tractor, and he thins the vineyard in the spring, not at verasion, to limit the production.
