Here’s a wine that’s not spoken of much, but that deserves more fame, a LOT more fame. Allow me to introduce Dolcetto. It’s a wine from the Piemonte, Barolo and Barbera country, and that may be why it receives little or no attention. In the past the old style of wine was made fairly quickly for consumption under three years old. As such it was angular, fresh, with a lovely astringent finish. It worked with pretty much all food.
The more modern ‘Garda’ style of wine, leaves it in the barrel longer and allows it to age. As you can see I gambled on getting an extra three years out of the bottle. This style typically spends two years in the barrel – an extra 6 months – and is a rounder more New World wine.
As a certified Old World Old Fart, you’d expect me to slam the wine as over-oaked, overly onctueux, but the opposite is true. There was still plenty of fruit, with that great herbal/licorice palate I like. The acidity was damped down a bit, but the wine was none the worse for it.
If you see any non-DOC dolcetto give them a try. They are often great deals. And if you come across any Einaudi wines for God’s sake buy them and drink them! This is a vintner who knows what he’s doing.