New Releases from Piedmont: The Stars Are Aligned

By Antonio Galloni

I tasted a seemingly endless number of drop-dead gorgeous wines from Piedmont over the summer. Piedmont has experienced a set of exceptional vintages that play to the strengths of the region’s indigenous varieties. At the same time, producers have backed off some of the more international leanings of the 1990s and now have the confidence to let their wines speak for themselves, and speak they do. Readers will find no shortage of stunning wines in all price ranges in these pages.

2010 Dolcetto d’Alba

The 2010 Dolcetti are superb. The wines show tons of varietal character with the cool, insistent minerality that is the hallmark of this cold vintage. Readers who may have found recent Dolcetto vintages too rich will delight in the 2010s. The best wines have bright acidity, clean minerality, mid-weight structure and fabulous overall balance. They are great wines for the dinner table. Curiously, Dolcetto remains a very tough sale in the US. Savvy readers will discover a wide range of delicious wines in the market. As always, a good rule of thumb is to look for the Dolcetto of a top Barolo or Barbaresco producer. Even better is venturing into the lesser-known villages where Dolcetto has the top billing and therefore the best situated vineyards, such as Dogliani and Diano d’Alba.

2009 Barbera d’Alba