
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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Wilde Farm Fox Hill Vineyard Dolcetto 2018Dolcetto from Mendocino, California
- V
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Sandrone Dolcetto d'Alba 2018Dolcetto from Alba, Piedmont, Italy
- RP
- WE
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Paolo Conterno L'Alto Dolcetto d'Alba 2018Dolcetto from Alba, Piedmont, Italy
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E. Pira e Figli Dolcetto d'Alba 2018Dolcetto from Alba, Piedmont, Italy
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Ceretto Rossana Dolcetto d'Alba 2018Dolcetto from Alba, Piedmont, Italy
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Ca'Viola Vilot Dolcetto d'Alba 2018Dolcetto from Alba, Piedmont, Italy
- JS
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Elio Grasso Dolcetto d'Alba Dei Grassi 2018Dolcetto from Alba, Piedmont, Italy
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Azelia Bricco dell'Oriolo Dolcetto d'Alba 2018Dolcetto from Alba, Piedmont, Italy
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Francesco Boschis Pianezzo Dolcetto di Dogliani 2018Dolcetto from Dogliani, Piedmont, Italy
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Piero Benevelli La Costa Dolcetto d'Alba 2018Dolcetto from Alba, Piedmont, Italy
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Musso Dolcetto d'Alba 2018Dolcetto from Alba, Piedmont, Italy
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Pecchenino San Luigi Dogliani Dolcetto 2018Dolcetto from Dogliani, Piedmont, Italy
- WS
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Elvio Cogno Mandorlo Dolcetto d'Alba 2018Dolcetto from Alba, Piedmont, Italy
- JS
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Prunotto Dolcetto d'Alba 2018Dolcetto from Alba, Piedmont, Italy
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Luigi Einaudi Dolcetto di Dogliani 2018Dolcetto from Dogliani, Piedmont, Italy
- V
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Elio Altare Dolcetto d'Alba 2018Dolcetto from Alba, Piedmont, Italy
- WS
- RP
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Fabio Oberto Dolcetto d'Alba 2018Dolcetto from Alba, Piedmont, Italy
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Bruno Giacosa Dolcetto d'Alba 2018Dolcetto from Alba, Piedmont, Italy
- WS
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Abbona Papa Celso Dolcetto 2018Dolcetto from Piedmont, Italy
- V
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Paolo Scavino Dolcetto d'Alba 2018Dolcetto from Alba, Piedmont, Italy
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Massolino Dolcetto d'Alba 2018Dolcetto from Alba, Piedmont, Italy
- JS
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Andrea Oberto Dolcetto d'Alba 2018Dolcetto from Alba, Piedmont, Italy
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G.D. Vajra Dolcetto d'Alba Coste and Fossati 2018Dolcetto from Alba, Piedmont, Italy
- RP
- WS
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Bruno Giacosa Falletto Dolcetto d'Alba 2018Dolcetto from Alba, Piedmont, Italy
- WS
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Luigi Pira Dolcetto d'Alba 2018Dolcetto from Alba, Piedmont, Italy