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How to describe Dolcetto without slipping into banality? Let's try. First of all, there is its colour, a full ruby red that tends to be more intense than Barbera and tends to have more violet hues. On the nose, it reminds us of black cherries, plums and often something "pithy", like pickled sour cherries and cherry laurel leaves. Sometimes there are notes of freshly cut wood and of ink. In the mouth, the wine is at its best voluminous and round with a finish of bitter almonds.

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As for other grape varieties, there is not only one interpretation for Dolcetto. Schematically, we give two extremes, which can of course have practically all shades in between. The first is the "simple" Dolcetto, a popular everyday wine without great complexity, in which fruit and freshness are emphasised. The second is that of a rich wine with great concentration and structure and a storage potential that remains to be partially discovered. According to Rocco Di Stefano, one of the greatest experts in oenological chemistry not only in Italy, Dolcetto is, at least as far as its chemical structure of polyphenols is concerned, among the Piedmontese grape varieties, the one with the highest potential for ageing or at least with the most stable colour. This rather surprising discovery is based on analyses of the quantity and structure of the anthocyanins, among which the stable and less oxidative malvidin-3-glucoside predominates, and on the fact that the tannins can be easily extracted from the grape skins and seeds. They prefer to form stable polymers when working with well-ripened grapes. From this point of view, Dolcetto even approaches international grape varieties such as Cabernet and Merlot.

The slightly more compact version in Ovada (Photo: Maurizio Gily)

Undoubtedly, excellent Dolcetto wines of both the first and the second type exist, to keep the simplified scheme. In the Ovada area, producers have chosen to follow in the "footsteps" of Dolcetto di Dogliani by distinguishing between the two typologies. Dolcetto di Ovada DOC, which is practically the current DOC, and Ovada as DOCG (Controlled and Guaranteed Denomination of Origin), a wine of the superior category, with more restrictive conditions for production and ageing (applied for).

The DOCs in detail:


DOLCETTO D'ACQUI

In the Alto Monferrato Acquese, which overlaps with the Moscato area, the production area starts on the left bank of the Bormida river and pushes northwards to the Belbo torrent Dolcetto holds a significant position here, giving fresh, fruity and easily accessible wines that are generally not very colourful (with some exceptions). But there is another "Acquese" that runs up from the right side of the Bormida towards the Apennines. Here, there are really only a few vineyards left. The forest is taking back with great strides what man has snatched from it in the past centuries. In this little, however, there is a lot of Dolcetto and it is of remarkable quality: in Ponti, Spigno, Melazzo, Cartosio. The municipalities with the most Dolcetto in the Acqui area are Acqui itself, Cassine, Rivalta Bormida and Orsara Bormida, all between 50 and 100 hectares.

Dolcetto d'Acqui production area (Map: Piedmont Region)


DOLCETTO D'ASTI

In the province of Asti, the areas of Dolcetto coincide with those of Moscato. In no municipality of the "Astigiano" does Dolcetto exceed 50 hectares. Nevertheless, it is widespread here, advancing as far as the south bank of the Tanaro, while on the left bank of the river Dolcetto has become a rare commodity indeed.

Dolcetto d'Asti production area (Map: Piedmont Region)


DOLCETTO DOVADA

The production area is further south, around the namesake village of Ovada. It is divided in two by the Orba torrent and is geologically a very difficult territory with soils of different origins. The two municipalities with the most extensive Dolcetto vineyards are Rocca Grimalda and Carpeneto, which exceed a hundred hectares. Unfortunately, in the places of high vocation such as Cremolino, Trisobbio, Morsasco, Prasco and Ovada itself, there is hardly any Dolcetto left but, in compensation, what remains is truly of special goodness. To the east of Orba, Dolcetto retains some importance in Tagliolo, Castelletto d'Orba, Silvano d'Orba and Lerma, while further east, towards Gavi, its dominance is taken away by Cortese.

Dolcetto from Ovada is a robust, full-bodied wine of intense colour, a little brittle and "untamed" when young, especially from the "red soils". Generally, it gives its best after one or two years. The link between grape variety and territory is very strong here, just like in Dogliani.

In the "Ovadese" there are no big producers; there is a completely peasant viticulture and this explains why this wine is little known on the international market. For centuries, however, Dolcetto from Ovada has been highly appreciated by the consumers of nearby Genoa, as well as by the "merchants" from the Alba area, the producers of Dolcetto d'Alba, who had always done good business on this soil before the restrictions of the various DOC rules made blending and "decanting" more difficult.

Dolcetto d'Ovada production area (Map: Piedmont Region)


The Ricaduta

The parish church of Ovadan is the symbol of the town (Photo: Alexala% Massimiliano Navarria)

All three of the previously mentioned production areas have one thing in common, the "Ricaduta" Monferrato DOC Dolcetto. What is a ricaduta? If a wine does not receive the required quality guidelines in the tasting commission or if the producer decides for various reasons not to produce the wine in the "higher quality" DOC or even DOCG, it "drops down" to the next lower category. This can be a DOC for DOCG wines, another DOC with a larger area or an IGT or even a table wine. It all depends on the respective production rules. Reasons for a "Ricaduta" can be, for example: Overproduction, of the harvest quantities specified in the rules of the quality level, not reaching the quality or simple decision of the producer to produce in a lower level, perhaps to be able to offer the wine at a lower price or because market demand varies.

The Monferrato DOC is a general DOC for many different varietal and blended wines. Dolcetto produced under this designation only needs to be made from at least 85% must of the Dolcetto grape, unlike the DOCs mentioned above, which must be compulsorily made from 100% Dolcetto. The area overlaps with all the production areas mentioned above. The northern Monferrato, on the other hand, has no choice; there, only the production of Monferrato DOC Dolcetto is permitted.

<!--Some recommendable Dolcetti from the wine guide Italy-->Hereyou can
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Translation by Katrin Walter

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