2005 La Slina Dolcetto di Ovada

Drank a bottle of this last night- I'm on this mission to explore wines that can be purchased for under $15.00 per bottle and truly satisfy. For those that don't know dolcetto- it's a Piedmont grape (northern Italy, southern Alps). Dolcetto is a smaller, sweeter grape that can actually be eaten raw when ripe unlike many other wine grapes (ok, you can eat them but you aren't going to get that bursting maturation of sugar we look for when we eat store bought grapes- most wine grapes, especially the white variety will make your face pucker when you first taste them).

the 2005 La Slina Dolcetto is a really nice example of a heavily fruit focused dolcetto with minimal tannins and lush flavors. Dolcetto is often grown at the highest point of the vinyards as the grape really thrives on this top level of soil in the thinner air and it shows by making for a very dense flavor that is still quite airy and light.

In DC retail I'm getting this for about $13 per bottle without a case discount, so I'd assume the price should be in the 15 ish range or less in Chicago.

Highly reccomended as a wonderful wine to keep at home. I'd have a hard time thinking that your average California Cab drinker who loves bold wines wouldn't like this before moving to something more robust and bold. This is a nice introduction to Piedmont wines.