One thing that strikes you as you reach the Langhe hills, driving from Torino in the month of October is the beautiful patchwork of green, orange, yellow and red all around you. How come, the painters, writers and poets love Veneto, Tuscan hills of Chianti Classico and Lake Como etc. but do not rave this region, you wonder?
Perhaps, they did not visit the region in Fall, when the Dolcetto vines turn a combo of red, orange and yellow spreading a multi-colour sheet. The slightly- yellow turning patches of Nebbiolo vines lend a beautiful contrast. Occasional glimpse of snow capped Alps add as a magnificent backdrop that would be any nature lover’s delight- the pleasure would be amplified with a glass of Dolcetto di Dogliani in hand!
‘Drink Well- Drink Dolcetto di Dogliani’ is what the brochure at Bottega del vino Dolcetto di Dogliani distributed to us from the Municipality of Dogliani in the presence of the Mayor suggests. You may drink the great wines of Barolo, Barbaresco (Nebbiolo grapes them all), Barbera (most areas including Dogliani grow this grape-recently making strides with tremendous quality improvement through longer maturity) or the dry quaffable wines made from Dolcetto grapes.
Who, what or where is Dogliani
If you have not heard the name Dogliani- not a problem; many Italians haven’t either. But it helps understanding wines from this DOC and DOCG appellation that makes some delicious and uncomplicated but affordable food wines.
Dogliani is a small old city of 5000 inhabitants, about 70 minute drive South of Torino and is at the heart of the appellation which produces about 5 million bottles.
Lying as a natural bowl, surrounded by beautiful green hills, at an altitude of 300 mtrs, it is considered the capital of the South- West Langa, the hilly region of Piemonte.
There are seven Appellations for Dolcetto in Piemonte (not including the two more generic ones and for lower classification in the hierarchy- namely DOC Dolcetto Piemonte and DOC Dolcetto Langhe). Besides DOC Dolcetto di Dogliani there are 6 others that include the better know Dolcetto di Alba, Asti and the lesser known Diano and Acqui
Dolcetto- the sweet little grape making dry wine
If the appellation is confusing, the Dolcetto grape is no less of a misnomer. Translated as the ‘sweet little one’, it is not really a sweet grape but being less acidic than the acidic Barbera grape, it feels sweeter on the Piemontese palate and hence the name. Wines made from this easier growing and earlier harvesting grapes are quite dry, with the residual sugar being 2-5 gm/ liter ( 5gm/l denotes a dry wine and it is not possible to make a wine with less than 1 gm/l of sugar.)
What confuses even more is that the regions growing this grape are situated very close to each other and naturally all the regions claim their superiority in terms of soil. This part of Piedmont is practically the only region in the world where Dolcetto is green.
Dogliani- Producer of Darling Dolcetto wines
Dogliani has its own rightful reasons to claim superiority of its Dolcetto wines.
Dolcetto grapes were already on the Dogliani hills since 1000 AD. Historical documents also witness that wine trade in these areas started from the XI century. The city takes on its actual shape dividing into Borgo (village) and Castello (castle) since those days.
In restaurants it is used in combination with rather simple dishes, where an easy-drinking, low-alcohol and immediately understandable wine is required. However, it remains a truly Piemontese wine even in its true classic version. Its gentle, slightly bitter final taste makes it a meal wine par excellence, as also because of its clear matching quality.
Of course, the area is not as prime as the Barolo and Barbaresco where the wines produced from Nebbiolo are considered noble in quality, recognition and price. Dolcetto wine can sell immediately as it is ready to drink after minimal bottling period after fermentation. Dogliani takes pride in concentrating on this grape, 90% of the regions wines are from this region.
DOC Dolcetto di Dogliani wines win perhaps the highest recognition from Gambero Rosso, L ‘espresso and other wine competitions compared to the other appellations making this wine.
Bottega Wine Shop
An old, charming 16th century building, which use to be an old monastery the Town Hall of Dogliani. The basement has a beautiful, antiquated wine shop which cellars wines from all 45 members of the association. One can taste wines from all the wineries at this shop for free and purchase- sort of a one stop shop for enjoying the tastes of Dolcetto di Dogliani – as also the Nebbiolo and Barbera. It is open all days of the week, though hours vary.
Dolcetto is usually drunk slightly cool- at 16°C to get the best flavour. The alcohol levels of 12-14% (11.5% is the minimum prescribed for DOC and 13% for DOCG). Dolcetto can be enjoyed throughout the meal as well as with Pizzas and Pastas. It can complement chicken and lamb dishes, if not too hot. Due to soft tannins, it can be enjoyed even by vegetarians and on its own.
Stay at Dogliani
There are plenty of decent and comfortable B&Bs and hotels in the area. Barbarossa (€ 50 for 2 with breakfast), Cascina Gabriela (€78, Cascina Martina €65 Del Tufo Bruno €55 Poderi Luigi Einaudi €93-135 give you an idea of what is available as agriturismo.
If you prefer to stay in a hotel, there are a fair number of them available too. Villa Santa Teresa is a newly built 4-star property that rents for €50-75. Leon d’Oro is a classic hotel in the middle of Dogliani and at 40 without breakfast, quite economical too Larenzania €45- 130 is a hotel situated on the wine estate.
Proud Producers of Dolcetto in Dogliani
In today’s world of wine where big conglomerates are gobbling up the smaller ones and where brands are becoming more important than the sub-regions or even regions, the producers of Dogliani are too proud to fall in that mould.. As an outsider one wonders the need to have 7 appellations for such a small region, where Dolcetto Piemontese, the lowest in the current hierarchy could be a generic appellation that could be universally popular. But the producers here are too individualistic of the style of their wine because of their terroir and the history through which they have connected with their fathers, grandfathers and beyond.
Chionetti
As an illustration, let us take the example of Chionetti. Owned by 82 year old Quinto (a fifth child in the family in Italy) Chionetti, the wines win top honours in all the major ratings and tastings every year. If Angelo Gaja is named as Prince of Piemonte by Wine Spectator, Quinto certainly qualifies for that honour in Dogliani. He has perhaps done for Dogliani Dolcetto what Angelo did for Barbaresco Nebbiolo. Much more senior to Angelo in age, Quinto breathes Dolcetto. In fact, the day we visited his winery, he had gone to Rome for some award ceremony for one of his wines getting the top honours.
DOC Dolcetto di Dogliani ‘Briccolero’ and ‘San Luigi’ are the only Dolcetto produced by Quinto. He is entitled to label his wines DOCG Dogliani- a new appellation earned by the region a couple of years ago recognising superior wines in the appellation that meet the set norms. Since, this appellation does not allow ‘Dolcetto’ on the label he refuses to call his top level wines DOCG Dogliani and prefers sticking by his old label. Of course, he is revered by wine connoisseurs and producers alike, miles away.
San Fereolo
Take the case of Nicoletta Bocca, the owner of a small winery named San Fereolo. Daughter of a well known and powerful political journalist, she chanced upon this area in the early nineties while on a visit. She fell in love with the place so much that she decided to set up a winery here. Initially partnering with her neighbour, she was so smitten with the concept of organic farming and bio-dynamic process of wine making that she studied the techniques on her own and has become a completely bio-dynamic producer, though not certified yet.
Not that she cares whether she gets it or not. She admits, ’Piemontese are very stubborn people and this shows in our wines too. I know the Italian authorities are very strict, chauvinistic and unwilling to give a certificate easily, especially when they know it is a woman.’ She does not know or like to admit that this is a universal phenomenon; the bio-dynamic community is very close-clustered and suspicious of those wanting to join in. She has nevertheless, announced that she will continue making sure that everything she does in the vineyard or winery is biodynamic.
Stubborn that she may be in her own way, Nicoletta is also an example of the stuff Dogliani wine producers are made of. Not only does she is a farmer who runs her complete winery, including the marketing (it can get very frustrating at times, she admits, ‘when people do not give the full respect our wines deserve’), she works on the computer, makes complete power point presentation on behalf of Bottega del Vino Dolcetto di Dogliani, the association of producers from the region, and she also found time to help the Bottega organise a trip of foreign journalists to make the world take a note of its wines.
Going beyond the call of this extra duty, she even volunteered to take a well-known woman journalist from Calgary and me to a recently opened concept supermarket called Eataly, a designer chocolate factory owned by Guido Gubbino, followed by a cross-country drive via Alba to Roero area near Barolo, where after tasting of some Arneis wines from Malvirà we had dinner at a Michelin star restaurant; and she had to drive us back keeping the Italian laws on drunken driving in mind.
Abbona Anna Maria
Bocca is not the only woman entrepreneur in Dogliani producing quality wines. Abbona Anna Maria is an internationally acclaimed winery owned by the woman of the same name. Anna Maria is a serious winemaker who with the help of her husband makes award winning wines. When I told her of the wine women’s association called ‘De Donne del Vino’ and wondered if she was a part of it, her polite but firm reply was that she had no time for frivolous lunch meetings once or twice a month that they were to have been conducting. She quickly added that she had heard they had become seriously recently and she won’t mind looking at joining.
Poderi Luigi Einaudi
Ask any Italian if he has heard of Luigi Einaudi and he will laugh at you. With almost every big Italian city including Torino having a street named after him, how could he not know Luigi Einaudi, the first President of Italian Republic?
Einaudi was from Dogliani and his mounted statue decorates the big committee room in the Town Hall, where Mayor Gallo had welcomed a group of visiting journalists earlier this month at a wine tasting organised by the Bottega in the basement wine cellar of this historical building.
Einaudi was a well known economist who had studied in England and had written hundreds of books and articles on Economics.
He was also the founder of the winery named after him. It is said that even when he was the President, he used to visit this winery often and was present at every harvest. His winery is one of the few Heritage wineries outside the Barolo appellation that is permitted to make Barolos here- an exception which has helped the grandson, Matteo and his mother win several awards, not only for Dolcetto di Dogliani but also for Barolos. Several Tre Bicchieri, Five Grappoli (grape bunches) and many top awards do the late Einaudi proud.
The winery has a beautiful agriturismo which is quite modern and comfortable inside, while maintaining the looks of the old charm from outside. With a tariff of €93 a night for a single room, it promises to be an excellent base for a mini vacation in the region.
Pecchenino
Orlando Pecchenino is the grandson of the founder Attillo who started this winery over a century ago. Although he owns a small 1.5 h/A of land in Monforte d’Alba where he makes Barolo, the balance of his 25 h/A estate is in Dogliani where he makes 70% Dolcetto.
A soft spoken Orlando may not be very fluent in English language, but he knows his Dolcetto very well. In fact, he firmly believes that it can be aged very well too, like Barbera. We tasted his verticals all the way back to 1998-which was still very fresh and drinkable though I couldn’t say that it had attained the complexity that Nebbiolo achieves-due to stronger tannins. Even Barbera has its brighter moments with good aging.
Abbona Marziano
When you meet Marziano Abbona (Abbona seems to be as popular a family name in Dogliani as Arora is in this part!) you think he is an ageing movie star). Perhaps, he was or also concurs. With an attitude like Mohammad Ali, he shows you the winery with the body language saying clearly admitting, ‘I am the best’. He is certainly one of the best, as his award winning wines are a testimonial to his achievement. Proud of his later father Celso, he has even named his top labels as Papà Celso.
The wines we tasted were of high quality- he even makes some Barolos Barbaresco and Barberas, apart from whites from Viognier, Chardonnay and Arneis. But what was truly magnificent was the view of his vineyard from the winery. It was like a picture postcard, the picture of which had been taken with a tele-lens. The slopes start rising, practically a few meters after you walk out from the winery. Due to the close distance and slightly higher ingredient, the patchwork looks mesmerising at this time of the year.
Cantina Sociale del Dolcetto
This huge co-operative situated in Clavesana produces well over 2 m bottles –almost half the total production of 5 m bottles in the appellation. Like most co-operatives, its powerful, though the soul may be missing. Perhaps, due to the collective clout, this is also the exceptional winery allowed to bottle Barolos. With lower prices, it sells almost 40% of the production at the modern Enoteca (wine shop) set up within the winery. With the modern state-of-the-art equipment it can boast of the best processes in the neighbourhood. The earlier problem of low quality grapes sneaking in from the co-operatives has apparently been addressed by contractually insisting that each member must bring and sell all his grapes to the winery.
The winery thrives on the farmers owning very small vineyards. Many of the Dogliani wine producers are surviving on a production of mere 15-20000 bottles a year, barely economical production lot. Anyone with even less number of equivalent vines is obliged to sell grapes to this co-operative or another, much smaller one in Dogliani.
Other Producers
There are about 45 wine producers which are members of the Bottega- a few smaller ones are outside the association. Wines tasted from most of the producers were quaffable or better. But
Fabiani Fabrizio, Revelli Eraldo, Boschis Francesco and Barberis Osvaldo were very impressive too. Del Tufo winery also has a nice little agriturismo with budget prices (€55-double, with breakfast) and beautiful mountains as the backdrop.
A special mention could be made of La Bruna which offers some excellent value for money Dolcetto di Dogliani San Luigi docg wine (apparently an incorrect label! It should have been Dogliani DOCG. Due to the recent arrival of this appellation, there have been many confusions in this region).Run by Bruno Andriano and his wife the winery may not be geared for exports but are typical proud producers of the region.
