In January you replied to Jadesunflower regarding a sweet red wine and recommended a Dolcetto. I have been hunting for a Dolcetto and cannot find any. I had an Australian Dolcetto and loved it. I noticed you live in So. Ca. and wondered if you could recommend where to purchase this wine. I live in Nevada. Thanks to you or anyone who could help me to find where to buy wines that are recommended by members but I don't know where to look to buy them. As you can tell I am really new to this.

I am not Pinot Envy, but I am responding to recommend that you try Wine-Searcher. Just type “Dolcetto” into the "wine name" field. I am not any kind of an expert in Italian varietals so I really can’t make a recommendation on what you should buy. There are some wineries in California, Viansa for example, that specialize in Italian varietals but I believe that their examples of Dolcetto are not up to those from Italy. FWIW, when I've had Dolcetto in the past I did not find it to be sweet.

I like Renatto Ratti. Next time I go to teh wine shop I am going to try to pick up a Pecchiano.

Dolce is sweet in Italian, but there is nothing sweet in a dolcetto. Usually pretty dry, actually.

Is Dolcetto made from old vines? If so, can someone recommend a few easily accessable in SoCal? A nice sweet Australian Old Vines Dolcetto could just make my weekend.

PH

looks like a tough weekend coming up for Bob LaBlah

Thanks to all for your input regarding Dolcetto wine. The one I tried was from Australia and maybe their wine comes out sweeter. It was not puky sweet(to me) just enough sweet to be very enjoyable. I thought all Dolcettos would be sweet. Maybe they aren't. I wouldn't know because I am just trying to learn. So many wines seem so tart that when I found one that had a little sweetness to it, I really liked it. Thanks for all the help.

quote:

Originally posted by winelook:
Thanks to all for your input regarding Dolcetto wine. The one I tried was from Australia and maybe their wine comes out sweeter. It was not puky sweet(to me) just enough sweet to be very enjoyable. I thought all Dolcettos would be sweet. Maybe they aren't. I wouldn't know because I am just trying to learn. So many wines seem so tart that when I found one that had a little sweetness to it, I really liked it. Thanks for all the help.

I thought you were kidding about Dolcetto coming from Australia, but a quick search found that in fact some does. It seems that a couple of winemakers blend it with Shiraz, which would tend to diminish the acidity and give it more forward fruit. That would make it less tart and seemingly less dry.

One of the things that I love about wine is how much there always is to learn.

quote:

Dolce is sweet in Italian, but there is nothing sweet in a dolcetto. Usually pretty dry, actually.

BTW...Dolcetto means 'Little Sweet One'.

according to The Oxford Companion to Wine...
'While low in acidity, RELATIVE to Barbera at least, and therefore 'Dolce' (sweet) to the Piedmontese palate...'

Thank you again, Seaquam. See Irwin, that wasn't all that hard.