2009 Arte Langhe

Domenico Clerico's spectacular new winery is finally close to completion after several years of construction, and the 2011 harvest was vinified there. In recent years Clerico has backed off on some of his more modern techniques and says he is now making wines with more structure and grip. Even as far back as the outstanding 2001 vintage, Clerico told me, he thought his wines had too much oak, and he considered his past dolcettos to be too big. "Sometimes we had to wait three or four years to drink them, which is not the point of dolcetto," he told me. According to Clerico, 2008 stands out for its overall freshness. "It's not just a question of acidity. And it's not an easy-drinking vintage like 2007." Incidentally, Clerico's Pajana fruit was already in a rotofermenter by the time of my visit, having been harvested early, on September 16. He was giving it a shorter maceration for fear of getting dry tannins. Cellarmaster Gianmatteo ("Jimmy") Raineri compared vintage 2009 to 2007. "It was great for barbera because that grape likes warmth," he said, "but the nebbiolo could be better. And the 2007 has rather soft tannins. "We're more Piemontese: we like grip and tannic structure."