<a target="_blank">New Releases from Piedmont: Dolcetto 2005 and Barbera
2003/2004</a>



April 2007

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.

Recent vintages have produced a number of delicious
Dolcettos and Barberas that are sure to offer highly enjoyable drinking. The
2005 Dolcettos are terrific. The wines are gorgeously ripe, sweet and open, yet
maintain much of the classic sense of proportion of the 2004s without showing
the overripe qualities of the 2003s. The 2004s are also very pleasurable. Owing
to the more balanced weather that year, the wines are slightly more classic and
restrained in style. The best examples offer plenty of vibrant, layered fruit
in a more linear style than the plumper, juicier 2005s. In most cases I have a
slight preference for the 2005s, as they are simply beautiful wines.

In a similar vein, readers will have a lot of fun debating
the merits of the 2003 and 2004 Barbera vintages, both of which have yielded a
stunning array of great wines. 2003, was of course a super-hot vintage, yet
Barbera thrives in such conditions, which serve to tame some of the grape’s
inherent acidity. The best 2003 Barberas capture the heat of the vintage in
their ripe, forward fruit and plump textures but also display a measure of
proportion. The 2004s are equally outstanding but completely different in
style. In 2004 the region saw a longer growing season, with daytime heat
tempered by cool nights during the critical final phase of maturation.

The wines show slightly more defined aromatics as well as
layered, nuanced textures with plenty of fruit, silky tannins and brighter
acidities than the 2003s. They are perhaps slightly less generous on the
palate, yet the finest 2004 Barberas are still holding back a lot of their
potential and will continue to develop positively in the bottle. I find it
impossible to rank one vintage ahead of the other. More often than not I found
in my tastings that some producers did better in 2003 while other achieved
better results in 2004. The good news is that readers will find many wines that
merit careful consideration. It is still too early to have an informed opinion
on the 2005s, from which I have sampled just a few of the fresher, simpler
wines. 

&nbsp;--Antonio Galloni

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