Woof!

Posted 01/07/2008 at 10:36 PM by David

A few months ago I was on my annual trip to Italy, specifically in Piedmont. Now most people know that Piedmont is best remembered for the big and bold Nebbiolo grape that produces Barolo and Barbaresco. But the one grape that seems to have the tendency to fly under the radar is Dolcetto d'Alba ... and in many vintages justifiably so! Dolcetto is a soft, juicy easy drinking red wine from the region that is best consumed on pizza or pasta night. It serves a great purpose but is very rarely thought of as a "serious" wine ... until 2006.

As we went from estate to estate, my eyes grew wider and wider when another barrel sample of 2006 Dolcetto d'Alba was poured into my glass. I knew it was much more serious as the wines were opaque ... hedging more towards black than a dark purple. In the nose and on the palate the wines possessed great stuffing with a lot of structure (Not an adjective commonly used with Dolcetto). The best part was, that although they are very structured wines with elevated levels of alcohol, as the winemakers told us it is "natural alcohol." Which means in layman's terms that they obtained this through the natural ripening process.

Again and again my response was ... WOOF... I want to load up on as much 2006 Dolcetto D'Alba as I can from the best producers when these wines
are released.

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