Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
-
James Suckling
Wow. This is really classy with exquisite tannin texture and beautiful blue-fruit and slate character. Hints of coffee. Medium body. Firm tannins and a fresh-fruit finish.
-
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Fruit for this wine comes from old vines planted in faraway 1936. The 2017 Dogliani Superiore Vigna Tecc (aged in botte grande and cement) offers rich and concentrated fruit that is just as much a reflection of the old vines as it is the hot vintage. This wines was bottled in October of last year and is just swinging today. I love the dark density and heft of this wine that would pair with sausage and broccoli pizza.
An easy drinking red with soft fruity flavors—but catchy tannins, Dolcetto is often enjoyed in its native Piedmont on a casual weekday night, or for apertivo (the canonical Piedmontese pre-dinner appetizer hour). Somm Secret—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 makes a more serious style of Dolcetto, many of which can improve with cellar time.
The hills of Dogliani, just to the south of the Barolo zone, produce the very best Dolcetto wines in the world. Its rolling hills reach higher elevations than those of Barolo and the area maintains strong Dolcetto vineyards as well as groves of hazelnut trees, farmland, pastures, and forests. Dogliani became its own DOCG in 2005; in order for a Dolcetto to be classified as Dogliani DOCG, it must come from one of the following communes: Bastia Mondovì, Belvedere Langhe, Clavesana, Cigliè, Dogliani, Farigliano, Monchiero, Rocca Cigliè, Roddino and Somano. Dogliani DOCG must have a deep red color, elegance, intense fruit, and aromas of currants, raspberry, and blackberry.