We’ve sold every vintage of the Sandrones’ wines here at PRIMA since the 1988 harvest arrived (along with me) in 1994, and I can say, that the two Barolos they made in 2017 are amongst the sexiest, most elegant achievements they’ve ever produced!  Coming on the heels of their monumental 2016s, these very elegant offerings played marvelously to what the vintage gave them in terms of raw material, having achieved a degree of lacy finesse and buoyancy one rarely sees in Nebbiolo.  Yet, these two cuvees are as different as ever, with the blended Le Vigne producing a complete, complex and absolutely seamless wine while the 2017 Aleste, from the famed Sandrone parcel of Cannubi-Boschis is a fuller but more compact offering with higher noticeable acidity and, probably, more time required to see it at its best.  Another way to look at this pair- The Le Vigne is analogous to a fine Vosne-Romanee (sexy, cinnamon, texture) while Aleste is more Chambolle-Musigny in its reticence, edginess and beefy tannin. They are both wonderful achievements worthy of very serious consideration, especially if you like to drink your Barolo on the younger side.  Those perfect-scoring 2016s you bought last year are going to require some more patience while these both are simply wonderful to drink already.  (And just because these will drink better sooner, that doesn’t mean they won’t cellar as well- or nearly as well- as those 2016s) Le Vigne, by the way, is the Classico style blended Barolo that capitalizes on the attributes of four top MGAs in four different communes- Baudana in Serralunga, Villero in Castiglione-Falletto, Vignane in Barolo and Merli in Novello.   Aleste, on the other hand, comes exclusively from the Sandrones’ holding in Cannubi-Boschis, the most iconic of Barolo vineyards.