Dolcetto

RedVinifera red

Piedmont

Purple, soft and faintly bitter on the finish, meant to be drunk within a couple of years. The everyday wine of Barolo country.

At harvest

Each bar drawn against the full range of all 54 varieties

Sugar

22-25 Brix

22 - 25

Titratable acidity

5-6.5 g/L

5 - 6.5

3.3-3.6

3.3 - 3.6

Juice yield

0.68 L/kg

free run plus a gentle press

Sugar per kilogram

176 g

at 23.5 Brix, the midpoint

Fruit for 23 litres

34 kg

before racking losses

Potential alcohol

12.9-14.1%

from 1.099 fermented dry. A range, because conversion varies by strain

What it punishes

Ageing it. Dolcetto is at its best young and loses its fruit faster than almost any red.

Made into

Dry red

Sulphite at this pH

At pH 3.45, protecting a red wine to 0.5 mg/L molecular SO2 takes 22 mg/L of free SO2. Work it out for your own reading.

More vinifera red

23-26 Brix

Cabernet Sauvignon

Bordeaux, and now everywhere warm enough

23-25 Brix

Merlot

Right Bank Bordeaux

22-25 Brix

Cabernet Franc

Loire and Bordeaux

22-25 Brix

Pinot Noir

Burgundy

23-26 Brix

Syrah

Northern Rhone

24-27 Brix

Grenache

Southern Rhone and Spain

24-26 Brix

Mourvedre

Bandol and Spain

24-28 Brix

Zinfandel

California, and Croatia before that