Tacchino "Du Riva" Dolcetto d'Ovada Superiore DOCG 2013

Tasting Notes

The Tacchino winery has been producing wine for more than three generations. The 25 hectare estate is located in Piedmont among the beautiful hills of the Monferrato area. The sun exposure is south/south–east, the altitude about 300m above sea level, while the “white soil” and natural environment provide the necessary shelter against the winds from North. Yields are kept low which helps produce quality wines.

This is a real family business. Luigi and his wife Renata oversee the vineyards and their two grown-up children, Romina and Alessio, take care of the cellar, choosing the best grapes for their top-quality wines. They like to mix traditional methods and modern technology with a focus on producing the best known wines of Piedmont at a fair price.

The Dolcetto di Ovada Superiore DOCG is from Tacchino’s top range of wines which is “dedicated to wine lovers, to good palates… they are not wines for every day…”. It is made with real passion in honour of Romina and Alessio’s grandfather Carletto whose nickname was Du Riva.  Romina told me “He is our history, he is the backbone of our family, he is everything to us, in particular to me.” It was Du Riva who insisted on the particular clone of the Dolcetto grape for this wine in order to produce “a great and long-term wine“. Romina took his advice and Du Riva is the first Dolcetto d’Ovada which has been awarded Italy’s coveted Tre Bicchieri award – for several vintages.

There has been a trend for big, high alcohol Dolcettos but this wine sticks to the more traditional Dolcetto – subtle tannins, moderate alcohol, ripe cherries, damsons and liquorice. And it’s very elegant to boot. This is a dry wine but does have that hint of sweet juicy fruit which you would expect from a grape whose name means the little sweet one. You may need to aerate it if it appears a little closed initially. But it is worth the wait.