Typical Products of the Langhe > Wines > Vines > Dolcetto vine

The fine wines of the Langhe > Vines > Dolcetto vine

Ormeasco in Ormea and Pieve di Teco, Nebbiolo (Nibièu) in the Tortonese and Pavese hills. Boca Dolcetto vine, which is a cultivation of local interest in the Novarese, is well-distinct from Dolcetto vine. White Dolcetto is a vine, which is rare, from the Piedmontese area, and it has nothing in common with Dolcetto vine; also the French Douce noire must not be confused with Dolcetto vine. 

Geographical location

It is largely cultivated in the provinces of Cuneo (Langhe and Ormea area), Asti (Monferrato hills) and Alessandria (area of Aqui and Ovada, Tortonese), but it is also present in the Pavese and in Piedmontese mountain areas, thank to its precocity of maturation. It is also present in Liguria, in the province of Imperia (Pieve di Teco and Pornassio).

Morphological characters

Bud: greenish white, with dark carmine edges, lanuginose apex; violet-red, with green nervations, inferiorly very much lanuginose apex leaves (1-3). Green, with abundant violet-red shades, inferiorly little lanuginose basal leaves (4-5). Its herbal shoot is entirely violet-red coloured in its apex part. 
Adult leaf: medium-small, from pentagonal to cuneiform, tri- or five-lobed; U-shaped central womb, sometimes with a tooth; U-shaped superior lateral wombs; V- or U-shaped inferior lateral wombs. Border with a smooth or finely bubbly , lucid, dark green, with violet-red main nervations, with a plan profile, or with slightly waved margins, surface. Its teeth are medium-pronounced, with a narrow base and rectilinear margins. Slightly arachoidal inferior page; its nervations are slightly bristly. 
Ripened grape: medium-large, conic, generally with developed wings; its peduncle is often violet-red shaded.
Acinus: medium-small (1,7 g), short ellipsoidal (d.e./d.l.=0,95), with a consistent and very pruinose blue-black or blue-violet-black peel.

Phenology

Germination: medium or medium-precocious (second decade of April). 
Flowering: precocious (first decade of June). 
Turning to dark colour: precocious (first decade of August). 
Grape maturation: medium-precocious (second decade of September).

Cultural attitudes and utilization

Vigour: medium; its buds have short inter-nodes and tend to bundle up. 
Fertility and production: its fertility is medium-high, also at the basal gem level; its production is generally high or very high, but it can be irregular; its femminelle are medium-productive. 
Plant-culture and pruning: counter-espalier with Guyot pruning and capo fruiting 6-8 gems; high forms are less indicated but more utilized. 
Multiplication behaviour: generally good with most grafts; a scarce affinity for 420A and 101.14 has been noticed in some clones. 
Susceptibility to adversities and phytopathy: generally it is a vine which is susceptible to cryptogams attacks (oidium and peronospora specifically), but it is more tolerant to grape mould and rot, also due to its precocity of maturation; however, it is subjected to a precocious “cascola” of the grapes, which can be also very accentuated anytime its maturation occurs too rapidly. 
Oenological attitudes: wines of an intense colour (ruby red with violet reflections) and smell, especially if young, with odours of cherry and macerated red fruits, sometime slightly almond-smelling, are obtained; Dolcetto wines are also characterized by a low acidity and a pleasant bitter aftertaste; they are drunk young or after a short ageing.

Clones:

Dolcetto      CVT      8
Dolcetto      CVT      237
Dolcetto      CVT      CN      22
Dolcetto      CVT      AL      275
Dolcetto      CN      69
Dolcetto      R3

DOC Langa wines which are obtained from this vine:

Alba Dolcetto wine, Diano d’Alba Dolcetto wine, Dogliani Dolcetto wine, Monregalesi Langhe Dolcetto wine.

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