Pecchenino
Orla ndo Pecchenino is the grandson of the founder Attillo who started this winery over a century ago. Although he owns a small 1.5 h/A of land in Monforte d'Alba where he makes Barolo, the balance of his 25 h/A estate is in Dogliani where he makes 70% Dolcetto.
The soft spoken Orlando may not be very fluent in English language, but he knows his Dolcetto very well. In fact, he firmly believes that it can be aged very well too, like Barbera. We tasted his verticals all the way back to 1998-which was still very fresh and drinkable though I couldn't say that it had attained the complexity that Nebbiolo achieves-due to stronger tannins. Even Barbera has its brighter moments with good aging.
Abbona Marziano  When you meet Marziano Abbona (Abbona seems to be as popular a family name in Dogliani as Arora is in this part!) you think he is an ageing movie star). Perhaps, he was or also concurs. With an attitude like Mohammad Ali, he shows you the winery with the body language saying clearly 'I am the best'. He is certainly one of the best, as his award winning wines are a testimonial to his achievement. Proud of his late father Celso, he has even named his top labels as Papà Celso.
The wines we tasted were of high quality- he even makes some Barolos, Barbarescos and Barberas, apart from whites from Viognier, Chardonnay and Arneis. But what was truly magnificent was the view of his vineyard from the winery. It was like a picture postcard, the picture of which had been taken with a tele-lens. The slopes start rising, practically a few meters after you walk out from the winery. Due to the close distance and slightly higher ingredient, the patchwork looks mesmerising at this time of the year.
Cantina Sociale del Dolcetto
 This huge co-operative situated in Clavesana produces well over 2 m bottles -almost half the total production of 5 m bottles in the appellation. Like most co-operatives, it is powerful, though the soul may be missing. Perhaps, due to the collective clout, this is also the exceptional winery allowed to bottle Barolos. With lower prices, it sells almost 40% of the production at the modern Enoteca (wine shop) set up within the winery. With the modern state-of-the-art equipment it can boast of the best processes in the neighbourhood. The earlier problem of low quality grapes sneaking in from the co-operatives has apparently been addressed by contractually insisting that each member must bring and sell all his grapes to the winery.
The winery thrives on the farmers owning very small vineyards. Many of the Dogliani wine producers are surviving on a production of mere 15-20000 bottles a year, barely economical production lot. Anyone with even less number of equivalent vines is obliged to sell grapes to this co-operative or another, much smaller one in Dogliani.
Other Producers
There are about 45 wine producers which are members of the Bottega- a few smaller ones are outside the association. Wines tasted from most of the producers were quaffable or better. But
Fabiani Fabrizio, Revelli Eraldo, Boschis Francesco and Barberis Osvaldo were very impressive too. Del Tufo winery also has a nice little agriturismo with budget prices (€55-double, with breakfast) and beautiful mountains as the backdrop.
 A special mention could be made of La Bruna which offers some excellent value for money Dolcetto di Dogliani San Luigi docg wine (apparently an incorrect label! It should have been Dogliani DOCG. Due to the recent arrival of this appellation, there have been many confusions in this region). Run by Bruno Andriano and his wife the winery may not be geared for exports but are typical proud producers of the region.
Dolcetto di Dogliani in India
Dogliani has always concentrated on the local and EU markets with some exports to the US and UK. Asia has been their recent market and they are also looking for the Indian market. They are reasonably priced for a restaurant, though they could be made available at about Rs. 1100-1300 Retail. It would be well worth an Italian wine specialist or an Italian restaurant to introduce them in their portfolio.
With increased popularity of Italian cuisine, Dolcetto is practically a must to stock and what better choice than Dolcetto di Dogliani (although I feel Dogliani docg will sell better as the price is same as doc but perception in India is that docg wines from Italy are better quality wines).
Subhash Arora
November 15, 2007 |
