WBW #54-Wines of Piedmont

Posted on February 18, 2009 by Sonadora

WBW crept up on me again this month. It has a nasty of doing that these days…especially in short months like February.  Our host this month is David of McDuff’s Food and Wine Trail.  David set us to what seemed like an easy task at the time, drinking any wine, white, red, or otherwise from Piedmont.  However, after checking out my local wine shop and finding only a $50+ bottle of Barolo, I had to make a rush order from Jill at Domaine547, who again humored my refusal to use her website and quickly helped me choose a half case of wine (the most economical way to ship to me that I’ve found…plus, I can always use another half case of wine…right?  RIGHT?).

I always like the opportunity to taste reds from Italy as I tend to find them to be great values, so I’m happy that Domaine547 had a red from Piedmont to offer me!  I chose the 2006 Luciano Sandrone Dolcetto D’Alba.  It had a real cork closure, clocked in at 13.5% alcohol by volume, and cost me $22.99 from Domaine547.

On the nose I found chocolate covered cherries, currants, berries, anise, spice, white pepper, cherry, and plums.  The nose kept evolving as the wine aired, it definitely needed some time to open up.  In the mouth I got juicy cherries, earth, some bitter notes, raspberry, cedar, dark fruit, and chocolate.  Overall, I found the wine to be incredibly juicy.  The fruit showed as fresh and bright.  The wine had nice tannic structure and acidity.  We ate this with roast beef and it stood up well to the meat, but I also really enjoyed sipping it after dinner.  The wine is young and would definitely benefit from some vigorous decanting or some more time in the bottle.

Many thanks to David for hosting and for pointing me to Italy once again.  I really should drink more Italian wines!  And as always, a tip of the virtual hat to Lenn, the founder of WBW.  See you next month!

Filed under: Dolcetto, Domaine 547, Italy, Lenndevours, McDuff's Food and Wine Trail, Red, Wine |

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3 Responses

  1. Robbin Gheesling, on February 18, 2009 at 5:54 pm said:

    Let me know if you have anymore Italian wine questions. Far from an expert, but I still consider it my specialty.

    I got to spend a day with Luciano Sandrone in 2006. He’s an alright guy too!

  2. writingforfun, on February 19, 2009 at 6:13 am said:

    Wow now i wish i could drink! =\

  3. Sonadora, on March 7, 2009 at 6:29 pm said:

    Thanks Robin.

    Thanks for stopping by writing for fun!

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