My wine of the week for this Wine Wednesday is Il Clou di Clavesana 2010 which I had the pleasure of tasting with the Director Anna Bracco a couple of week’s ago. She has worked at the Cantina since 1975. The wine was gorgeous, sleek and supple on the nose and on the palate. I was hard pressed to choose which one of their wines I would select for Wine of the Week. All three of the wines I tasted were exceptional, their Dolcetto di Dogliani 2011, Allagiornata “110” 2010 and the D’OH Dolcetto 2011 which we even tried with Oysters. I had never thought of Dolcetto pairing so well with Oysters.

Anna was a lovely woman and we spent considerable time discussing Dolcetto and why it isn’t more widely considered here in the United States. In Piedmont, Dolcetto is both your everyday wine and a special wine, depending on the aging regime. It is much less expensive than Barolo or Barbaresco and in many ways easier to drink than many Barberas. I think of Dolcetto in Piedmont the same way I think of Morellino in Tuscany. It’s the wine people locally drink and we just haven’t caught on to that philosophy yet but I am sure, thanks to wines like those from La Clavesana, that day is coming. At least I hope so, I wouldn’t want anyone to pass up this experience of drinking Dolcetto from Dogliani, one of my favorite Italian wines.