Ferdinando Principiano - 'Dosset' - Dolcetto - Monforte, Piemonte, IT - NV

Ferdinando Principiano is producing world-class elegant and natural wines, with a watermark of traditional Barolo terroir. Ferdinando started in 1993, with 7 hectares from his father and grandfather; he now owns and farms 21 hectares. Allfarming is uncertified organic, but he goes way beyond the normalorganic practices and is obsessed with preserving or creating theconditions for biodiversity in and around his vineyards. Thisincludes buying adjacent forests, and creating a pond at the baseof his Boscareto cru that acts as a home for migratory birds, and achorus of frogs. He works the vineyards by hand, including the useof a scythe, as we’ll see described below in a moment. All cellarwork is low intervention.

We think it’s a positive sign that such a serious traditional producer such as Principiano makes such a sprightly wine such as ‘Dosset,’ the local Piedmont word for Dolcetto. Ferdinando Principiano likes for drink chilled down a bit. Spicy, sprightly, and always around 11% in alcohol (400m altitude vineyard and a bit of early picking).

GROWING AREA: Sant'Anna and San Martino vineyards in the Monforte commune of the Langhe
FARMING: No synthetic chemical herbicides, fungicides, fertilizers
or pesticides. Copper and sulphur treatments used sparingly. VINEYARD: 2.5 Ha ALTITUDE: 400 m / 1312 ft
SOILS: Clay, limestone and sand VARIETIES: 100% Dolcetto VINE AGE: from 10 to 20 years old VINE TRAINING: Guyot HARVEST DATE: Beginning of September
YEASTS: Spontaneous fermentation with ambient yeast FERMENTATION & ÉLEVAGE: 4 to 7 days on the skins in stainless steel vats followed by elevage for 2 months in stainless steel. MALOLACTIC FERMENTATION: Yes. Right after the alcoholic fermentation.
SULPHUR: 20 mg/L added during the harvest and 20 mg/L added at the end of the vinification.
ALCOHOL: 11.0% ANNUAL PRODUCTION: 2,000 cases