April 2007

New Releases from Piedmont: Dolcetto 2005 and Barbera 2003/2004

In most discussions on Piedmont wines Barolo and Barbaresco typically receive the lion’s share of the spotlight and rightly so, as they are among the world’s great wines. That said, readers who want to explore the full range of what the region has to offer owe it to themselves to check out the top Dolcetto and Barbera bottlings, which offer much pleasure at more accessible prices. Many of the wines in this article are made by top Barolo and Barbaresco producers who take the same pride and care with their more modest wines as they do in making their top single-vineyard bottlings. Quite a few of the most successful wines also come from unique vineyard sites that are just as ideally suited to Dolcetto or Barbera as the top Barolo and Barbaresco vineyards are to Nebbiolo. This report concentrates on wines readers are most likely to find in the market: Dolcetto 2005 and Barbera 2003/2004.