Name

Dolcetto of Diano

Seal of quality

Guarantee of Origin.

A.O.C. – D.M. 14th Septtember 2006

Description

Dressed in captivating deep ruby red, boasting young and violet highlights to suit its fruity and fragrant bouquet, marked with marasca cherry and at times blackberry or jam, this wine stands out for its dry and frisky flavour, pleasantly influenced by a varietal bitterish aftertaste that stimulates the palate. Raw material utilised (only in the case of the non-processed product). It is unmistakable in the vineyards for its strew bunches, the reddish shades of its stalk, the incredibly sweet grape that is sometimes eaten raw. Dolcetto takes its name from the sweetness of the grapes of this variety, once also appreciated as table grapes. It derives from the vinification of the pure dolcetto vine, and has a minimum alcoholic content of 11.5% vol. Ageing is not foreseen, but should the wine present a alcoholic content exceeding 12.5% vol and be aged for at least one year, it can bear the qualification “superiore” on its label.

Area of production

The area of production corresponds to the entire region of the commune of Diano d’Alba.

History

It is a wine that takes its name from a small village south of Alba, stretching out on a hill almost 500 metres a.s.l., dominating the city on one side, and the ancient road of communication for Liguria on the other, and on the third side the hills that slope down towards the flatland, a glimpse of which can be caught from afar; therefore a strategic position, exploited by all the populations that have lived here since ancient times, first the Ligurians and then the Romans, from whom the name of the place itself probably came, dedicated to Diana, the goddess of hunting, reminiscent of the days when these hills were still covered with thick and mysterious woods.

Today, even the castle no longer stands on the hill of Diano, razed to the ground by Vittorio Amedeo of Savoy in 1631, after he had torn it away once and for all from the marquis of Monferrato; one can climb to the top of the hill to enjoy a breathtaking view of this extraordinary vine and to taste the Dolcetto of Diano d’Alba, perhaps the most complete and bodied of the wines coming from a vine greatly loved by the Piedmontese, precisely, Dolcetto.

Delicate and demanding as far as exposition is concerned, an early species in favour of strong temperature ranges, this vine has found its ideal habitat on the highest and sunniest coasts of this area, leaving the woods on the valley bottoms and the hazels on the less favourable hillsides.

The Diano wine-growers’ fondness of this vine and the experience handed down from one generation to the next, has identified the best position for the vineyards so well that it has been possible to mark them off with extreme precision ever since 1988; these positions are called “Sorì” in Piedmontese dialect, meaning “sunny place”, and there are 77 altogether of these most suitable wine-growing areas, entirely included in the commune of Diano d’Alba.

It has been the attachment to this wine that out of six designations of origin that can be produced in this area, approx. 65% of the wine-growing region is dedicated to Dolcetto.

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.