The wine world is abuzz over the 2015 vintage of red wines from many appellations in Europe, including those in the Langhe District around Alba and its famous wines from Barolo and Barbaresco.
The 2015 Barbarescos won’t be released for another year, and the Barolos won’t appear for two years, but the striking excellence of this Dolcetto 
shows that excited anticipation is entirely in order.
The Vajra family makes terrific wines from multiple grape varieties (including Riesling!), so the growing season isn’t all that’s expressed in this wine. But even when the prodigious talents of the highly talented family are taken into account, the absolutely perfect ripening of the fruit in this bottling clearly says something wonderful about the vintage.
Gorgeous notes of red berries are exceptionally pure and expressive, and though there’s a streak of juicy sweetness to counterbalance Dolcetto’s grippy tannins, there’s nothing obvious or over-ripe about the fruit.
Rather, the overall impression is one of exceptional naturalness and perfect integration, with the latter characteristic being highly unusual for Dolcetto (which almost always displays a push-pull relationship between fruit and tannin while the wines are young, rather than the seamlessness showing here).
Dolcetto is rarely given the respect it deserves for the simple reason that its potential excellence is overshadowed by the magic that Nebbiolo can produce from the same area. Consequently, it is often scored too low, enjoyed too infrequently, and is now in actual peril, as a warming climate in the Langhe District of Piedmont is prompting a replacement of Dolcetto with Nebbiolo (which can now be ripened consistently in less sunny sites that weren’t formerly appropriate for that variety).
This wine would be a wonderful choice for poultry or dishes based on white meats, or as a sipper to go with antipasti. If my score (of 93 Points) is off, it is off on the low side.
Although it is difficult not to think ahead by a year or two when tasting this harbinger of wonderful 2015s from Barbaresco and Barolo, this wine is totally deserving of attention in its own right by all wine lovers. If you’ve never developed a relationship with Dolcetto, this would be a great first date.
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