Name

Dolcetto of Alba

Seal of quality

Guarantee of Origin.

A.O.C. – D.P.R. 6th July 1974

Description

A wine of a fragrant and young nature: a violet and ruby colour, a fresh and decidedly fruity bouquet, totally dry, a full and harmonious flavour, ending with an aftertaste of bitter almonds.

It comes from the pure dolcetto vine species and presents a minimum alcoholic content of 11.5% vol. Ageing is not foreseen, but should the wine be of a alcoholic content exceeding 12.5% vol and is aged for at least one year, it can bear the qualification “superiore” on its label.

Area of production

The production area involves 35 communes in the province of Cuneo situated both on the right ad on the left of the river Tanaro and the commune of Coazzolo in the province of Asti.

History

On the right of the river Tanaro, in the hilly region known as Langa, there is a variety of black grape vines that for centuries has shared the fortune and misery of its people and has stood up to the expectations of all those who have wanted to dedicate a little attention to the land: this variety is Dolcetto. It is not a very vigorous plant and neither does it resist to difficulties and diseases, but it has stubbornly remained close to the wine-grower, yielding its sweet and ripe table fruits, donating bunches of grapes suitable for the production of a special jam (cogna) and, above all, supplying the raw material to produce a wine of an undiluted and simple nature that one cannot avoid falling in love with.

The wine-growers of the amiable accessibility of Dolcetto continues, even after centuries, to recall memories of common experiences and this wine is always there, no matter how much time may go by, on the rowed hills surrounding Alba, catching the sun’s rays and expressing them in splendid fruity wines.

Amongst all the Dolcetto wines – and there are now about ten in Piedmont – Alba Dolcetto is the most famous: it obtained the status “Denominazione d’Origine” thanks to a decree of the President on 6th July 1974 and, since then, it has taken the long and continuous road towards quality and agreeableness.

First of all, it has known how to focus on the special attachment the Piedmontese people continued to show to Dolcetto, above all the people of the towns and cities on the right of the river Tanaro, where this wine is traditionally drunk.

Then, despite its name and the difficulties it encountered at first, it began to climb the market. It began by accompanying other wines of the area in their expansion across regional borders, only to affirm its presence also across national borders.

In 1994, the present “Consorzio per la Tutela Barolo , Barbaresco, Alba Langhe and Roero” was founded as a point of reference for wine-makers in the area between Langa and Roero who have identified in this structure the most suitable means with which to face, together and with authority, problems relating to the development and organisation of their reality and sector as a whole.

Galleria fotografica