100% Dolcetto; Idiot’s Grace Vineyard in Mosier, Oregon; planted 2003; Columbia Gorge AVA; 152 cases produced; grown in soils from volcanic ash and loess over flood deposits; brought up in veteran barrels; 12.8% ABV.
Dolcetto is a minor variety, no matter how much we might dote on it here at IG. In exchange for the limited name recognition and negligible collector value, I’d really like the fieldwork to be more straightforward than it is. With large and long, complex bunches, thin and dehydration-prone skins, and rather poor attachment of berry to bunch (especially as harvest draws near), this grape demands diligence and extra care in the vineyard. The payoff is that the wine wanders into something completely distinctive here in Mosier.
My records of the latter half of 2022 are regrettably limited. I use my phone extensively during the season to record impressions, data, and images, and I managed to pinch it in the hinge of an old Subaru just after harvest. (It curled like a Frito). I had neglected to back up the device in the mayhem and weariness of the season, and much useful information was lost. So I can’t now connect precisely with the circumstance of the vintage. But the old Dolcetto block delivered a clean and full crop, and we picked a bit later than we usually do. I find a melon-y quality to the wine’s fragrance right at opening, floral and a little heady. ON the tongue, the wine is light and airy, less concentrated than in years when the yield is lower. But I no longer recall whether the vines felt properly laden at harvest, or whether I wished, on that cool morning, that we had cut more bunches to the floor in our earlier, August crop-thinning.
