Luciano Sandrone, Barolo Cannubi, 1988

Early-era Sandrone — a label from before the Cannubi naming wars settled. Luciano Sandrone founded his estate in 1978 and began bottling his Cannubi-hill parcel separately from his very first vintage in 1985; the wine spent most of its life on the market as 'Cannubi Boschis' (the specific sub-zone of his holdings) before being renamed Aleste in 2013 in tribute to his grandchildren Alessia and Stefano. This 1988 — labeled simply 'Cannubi' — is a snapshot of that early naming era, made before Sandrone's 1989 and 1990 vintages catapulted him to international superstardom. 1988 was a good classical Piedmont vintage; at 37 years on, this is fully mature, with the smoky, leathery, dried-cherry profile the bottle has been known to develop. Luciano passed in 2023. A museum-piece bottle from the cellar of a modern master.