Here is a preview of a Dolcetto di Dogliani 2009 from Gianluca Marchisio at Cascina Minella in Dogliani, Piedmont. Normally it's aged or 6-7 months in steel tanks before imbottleent and another 2-3 months in rest, before start selling.

At Cascina Minella they have about 4000 plants per ha, and it gives about 7000 litres per ha. The terrain is a mix between clay, limestone and silica.

This Dolcetto is quite limpid due to it's slight too early and recently tap from the tank. The colour is a beautiful distinct purple with slight shades of ruby red. Turning the wine around in my glass I could see quite consistent body, fairly quick tears and legs of rather medium size.

In the nose it was quite intense, with quite fruity tones, with lot's of strawberry, raspberry, cherry and black current. At a second sniff came some impressions of wet leafs and soil, raw meat, liqourice, flower and slight slight dark chocolate. I would say quite complex and quite fine in the nose.

It's a dry wine, only 1,7 g sugar per litre, and it feels, especially at the end of the quite persistent lasting flavours. It starts with a quite intense very fruity beginning of the sip (combined with herbs, minerals and some flowers), which exponentially goes over to a quite intense impression of dryness in the end, quite tannic. It feels warm, it has 13% alcohol (vol), but it feels like a little bit more, at least 13,5%, if not a few tenths more. A quite soft young wine, surprisingly pleasant to drink already now, quite tasty and quite balanced.

Tasting temperature 17,8 Celsius degrees. Recommended serving temperature 16-20 degrees.

A promising quite harmonius wine! Within at least another 2-3 months this will be a good represent for Dolcetto from Dogliani. You could save it in your cellar for another 3-4 years.

It goes with well with white meat, salami, prosciutto, mortadella and cheese withoug ageing.

Thanks,
Leif Karlsson