
Dolcetto
Learn about Dolcetto — taste profile, popular regions and more …
An easy drinking red with soft fruity flavors—but catchy tannins, Dolcetto is often enjoyed in its native Piedmont while more serious Barolos and Barbarescos take their time to age. Here, this is the wine you are most likely to find on the table on a casual weekday night, or for apertivo (the canonical Piedmontese pre-dinner appetizer hour). In recent years Dolcetto has found some footing in California, but plantings are fairly limited outside of Italy.
Tasting Notes for Dolcetto
Dolcetto is a dry red wine with a moderate acidity and fairly high tannins. The name translates to “little sweet one,” and though the wines produced are typically not sweet in terms of residual sugar, they are full of juicy red cherry and blueberry, with occasional hints of chocolate and baking spice.
Perfect Food Pairings for Dolcetto
Dolcetto is a lively, exuberant variety and works well paired with tomato-based or pesto pasta dishes, pizza, roasted or cured meat and spanakopita.
Sommelier Secrets for Dolcetto
In most of Piedmont, easy-ripening Dolcetto is relegated to the secondary sites—the best of which are reserved for the king variety: Nebbiolo. However, in the Dogliani zone it is the star of the show, and here it makes a bigger, riper and a more serious style of Dolcetto, many of which can improve with cellar time.
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Pio Cesare Dolcetto d'Alba 2009Dolcetto from Alba, Piedmont, Italy
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Marchesi di Barolo Dolcetto d'Alba 2009Dolcetto from Alba, Piedmont, Italy
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Francesco Boschis Vigna dei Prey Dolcetto di Dogliani 2009Dolcetto from Piedmont, Italy
- RP
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Luigi Einaudi Dolcetto di Dogliani Vigna Tecc 2009Dolcetto from Dogliani, Piedmont, Italy
- WS
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Pelissero Dolcetto d'Alba Munfrina 2009Dolcetto from Alba, Piedmont, Italy
- RP
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Brovia Dolcetto d'Alba Vigna Villej 2009Dolcetto from Alba, Piedmont, Italy
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G.D. Vajra Dolcetto d'Alba 2009Dolcetto from Alba, Piedmont, Italy
- RP
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Renato Ratti Colombe Dolcetto d'Alba 2009Dolcetto from Alba, Piedmont, Italy
- W&S
- RP
- WE
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Luigi Einaudi Dolcetto di Dogliani 2009Dolcetto from Dogliani, Piedmont, Italy
- WS
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Domenico Clerico Langhe Dolcetto Visadi 2009Dolcetto from Piedmont, Italy
- RP
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Sandrone Dolcetto d'Alba 2009Dolcetto from Alba, Piedmont, Italy
- WS
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Pecchenino San Luigi Dogliani Dolcetto 2009Dolcetto from Piedmont, Italy
- WS
- RP
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Villa Lanata Dolcetto d'Alba Lo Zoccolaio Vigna Dij Sagrin 2009Dolcetto from Alba, Piedmont, Italy
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ACORN Winery Alegria Vineyards Dolcetto 2009Dolcetto from Russian River, Sonoma County, California
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Bersano Monferrato Bric di Bersan Dolcetto 2009Dolcetto from Piedmont, Italy
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Manzone Le Ciliegie Dolcetto d'Alba 2009Dolcetto from Alba, Piedmont, Italy
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Chateau La Foret Dolcetto d'Alba 2009Dolcetto from Alba, Piedmont, Italy
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Tenuta Carretta Dolcetto d'Alba Il Palazzo 2009Dolcetto from Alba, Piedmont, Italy
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Costa di Bussia Tenuta Arnulfo Dolcetto d'Alba 2009Dolcetto from Alba, Piedmont, Italy
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Gianelli Vineyards Dolcetto 2009Dolcetto from Sierra Foothills, California
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Principiano Ferdinando Dolcetto d'Alba Santa Anna 2009Dolcetto from Alba, Piedmont, Italy
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Abbona Papa Celso Dolcetto 2009Dolcetto from Dogliani, Piedmont, Italy
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Adriano Marco e Vittorio Dolcetto d'Alba 2009Dolcetto from Alba, Piedmont, Italy
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Hernder Estate Wines Dolcetto di Diano d'Alba Pradurent Superiore 2009Dolcetto from Alba, Piedmont, Italy
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Giuseppe Mascarello & Figlio Dolcetto d'Alba Bricco 2009Dolcetto from Alba, Piedmont, Italy