Elio Altare Dolcetto d'Alba 2022
94 POINTS: Wine Direct Tasting Team
5 STAR VALUE: Recommended, Wine Direct
"The 2022 Dolcetto d'Alba is a beauty. Made from 45 year old vines from calcareous soils in La Morra. Juicy dark plums, cloves, licorice and lavender roar from the glass. This succulent, racy Dolcetto is an absolute delight to drink. Tons of ripe plums, black cherry and spice notes. This drinkability makes Dolcetto much-loved variety among the Piemontesi, whereas the Nebbiolo wines of Barolo & Barbaresco are considered more serious and demanding with much higher levels of tannins and acidity. Highly recommended"
- Wine Direct Tasting Team
We have just landed our precious allocations from one of Italy's, the worlds, great wine estate - Elio Altare from La Morra in the heart of Barolo. Those of you lucky enough to score a few bottles of their wonderful Barolos will be hearing from us soon regarding despatch. In the meantime, we have 5 dozen of the family's Dolcetto that we really think you should try!
The Altare family originally comes from the town of Dogliani, then in 1948 they bought the farm in La Morra. Back then, the estate covered 5 hectares of nebbiolo, barbera and dolcetto vineyards, along with some peach, hazelnut and apple trees, but those were times when orchards gave higher yield and more profit than vineyards. Faced with a severe and long lasting economic crisis in Italy, Elio along with other curious barolisti, decided to learn more about winemaking beyond the borders of Piedmont in an attempt to emulate the success that those regions were enjoying. In January 1976, they made their first trip to Burgundy and it was a revelation. When Elio got back home he knew there were major changes to be made. He wasn’t afraid: he grabbed a chainsaw as if it were a sword, and first cut down the fruit trees in the orchard. Then in the cellar he chopped up the large, traditional botti into firewood which made way for the next big revolution: Barrique. Over the next 30 years he continued to make some of the most progressive and highly wines in Italy.
As of June 2016, the ownership and supervision of the farm has officially been transferred to Elio’s daughter Silvia, who is a dynamic and passionate champion for her family business. We Silvia is classic and someone who loves sharing her families wines, she has taken the wines to the next level and we are very excited about the future of this incredible estate!
ABV 14%