2007 Dolcetto Santa Barbara County

The methods here are moving as close as possible to those of traditional Italian producers, Steve Clifton told me. "But we are absolutely not trying to make imitations," he said. "We have our own unique terroir and fruit expression, but I'm drawn to wines that are unadorned and pure, which is what I find in the best old-school Italian wines." To that end Clifton is using larger casks (botte, in Italian) to minimize oxidation during barrel aging, and extending the time his nebbiolos spend in barrel, "hopefully, to get finer tannins and more aromatic complexity." This is certainly the most impressive set of nebbiolos I've ever encountered outside of Italy, and finer than many from inside it.