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Colour is deep red. The nose shows aniseed, tar, FruChocs and spicy oak. The fine palate entry has mulberry, cranberry, aniseed and liquorice flowing delicately with Rhone-like spicy, chewy, savoury tannins.

M. CHAPOUTIER Ermitage Le Pavillon, Hermitage Rare and highly sought-after, M.Chapoutiers brooding Ermitage Le Pavillon comes from a parcel of vines anchored on the granite soils of the Bessard commune lower down on the Hill of Hermitage. Le Pavillon refers to the ruins of an old stone-house located just below the vineyard on the famous Hill. The Syrah grapes are hand-harvested and entirely destemmed before undergoing vinification in concrete tanks. Following an extended maceration the wine is matured in a mix of approximately 30% new and 70% seasoned French oak casks for 18-20 months.

Small piece of Bordeaux trivia - Chateau Leoville-Barton has no chateau to speak of! In fact, all wines are made at its sister property, Chateau Langoa Barton, which is the storybook chateau pictured on the label. Once part of a much larger estate - in fact the largest in St Julien - Chateau Leoville-Barton has been under the ownership of the Barton family since 1722. In their hands, traditional winemaking techniques remain integral to production - certainly more so than many other modern Bordeaux estates. Leoville-Barton Bordeaux is famous for its traditional, beefy, and strapping style with an excellent reputation for ageing, making them particularly attractive additions to any wine cellar.

In the glass, the color is beautiful and brilliant garnet red. The fragrance, rich and complex, begins with floral notes - iris, aromatic herbs and dried hay -, then raspberry and wild strawberry, finally the ethereal spice notes of cinnamon and green peppercorns as well as tobacco. The flavor is rich and decisive, enveloping and warm, with notes that recall the aromas of spices and jams, herbs and tobacco. It is a dense, structured and long-lived wine, yet one of elegant character: the acidity and tannin give balance to the wine and the finish is velvety. Barolo DOCG. 100% Nebbiolo. Spontaneous fermentation from indigenous yeasts. Maceration and alcoholic fermentation in open steel tanks. Malolactic fermentation and ageing in French Oak tonneaux of 500 liters. Aged in bottle for 18 months before release. Vineyard in the village of Barolo: Cannubi Boschis

The Sandrone Barolo Le Vigne 2014 surprises with its intense garnet color, alive and beautiful. As it ages, it will slowly fade in intensity and gain subtle orange-brick hues. The scent, broad and persistent, first shows fruit notes of wild strawberry and raspberry, then floral notes including wild flowers and dried roses. The spice aromas of cinnamon and star anise emerge at the finish. With time we expect secondary and tertiary aromas and flavors to evolve, such as elegant vanilla notes and then dried mushrooms, leather, goudron and, perhaps, truffles. The flavor is rich and intense, with youthful expressiveness in the tannin and acidity. Time will bring greater harmony, resulting in a more complex and balanced wine. 100% Nebbiolo. Spontaneous fermentation from indigenous yeasts. Maceration and fermentation in open steel tanks. Malolactioc fermentation and ageing in French oak barrels of 500 liters. Aged in bottle for 18 months before release. Vineyards in the villages of: Serralunga d'Alba: Baudana Castiglione Falletto: Villero Barolo: Vignane Novello: Merli

The Sandrone family runs an outstanding museum program called Sibi et Paucis. This Latin name translates roughly as “for the few and favoured”. Each year, about 10 to 15% of the production of their Nebbiolo wines (Le Vigne, Aleste and Valmaggiore) is held back in the winery’s underground cellars under optimal aging conditions to provide this producer’s long-term clients with aged-release wines that are closer to maturity. It was Luciano Sandrone’s dream that one day, all his wines would be released only when they were ready to drink. Currently, the Sibi et Paucis wines are re-released six years after the vintage for Valmaggiore and 10 years after the vintage for the Barolos. It is a wonderful initiative, and each release comes with a stamp on the label to differentiate it from the original release. Below are the third-party notes pertaining to the re-released wines, i.e. they are all recent tastings and reviews. Having tasted the wines on more than one occasion, we can say categorically that they are all singing. In what was clearly a challenging year, Sandrone’s outstanding 2014 wines were among the highlights of the vintage (as many of our clients will already attest). Many journalists were quick to dismiss the year given the difficulties of the growing season, yet the best estates far outperformed initial expectations. As a winemaker friend of ours once said: “Time cuts out all the bullshit.” “It’s easy to focus on the great years,” Luciano told us when his 2014s were first released. “But the wines we make from the challenging years bring me the most satisfaction, the ones that make me the proudest.” Only an estate run by a driven perfectionist could reach such heights (the Sandrone family employed 38 people for farming when the average harvest at this time required only 22 pairs of vineyard hands). Waiting for the right moment to harvest, being willing to undertake a strong green harvest, and making a strict selection during the vintage all paid dividends.