Great Western Varietals

2009 Great Western Dolcetto *Special Offer price*

Best’s Great Western Dolcetto 2009

Dolcetto was first planted in the Nursery Block at Best’s in the 1860’s, and all subsequent plantings at Best’s have come from cuttings of these original vines. It has long been a topic of conversation as why Henry Best chose to plant about 25% of the entire vineyard with what is, even today, a lesser known variety. The 1860’s vineyards are still providing fruit for our modern day wines.....history in a bottle.

Originating from Piedmont, in North West Italy, Dolcetto “the little sweet one” is an early ripening variety that produces light to medium bodied red wines.
The 2009 vintage was produced from fruit grown on the remaining 12 rows of these original planting’s and grapes from the more recent 15 rows planted with cuttings from the original vines in 1971.
Small parcels are produced in favourable years and therefore its availability is very limited.

Technical Details

Region Great Western, Victoria

Grape Variety Dolcetto

 Alcohol

Winemaker 12.5%

Adam Wadewitz

Tasting Notes

Colour
 Exuberant bright purple
 Bouquet Lifted, youthful aromatics of punchy, fresh primary plum and berry fruit.

Palate

 
Lightly oaked, medium bodied wine with excellent cut-through savoury flavours and delicious fresh berry fruit. Mouth filling with outstanding varietal character.
 Cellaring
 A youthful wine made for early consumption
Vintage

 The growing season for 2009 was dry with an early heat wave easing into cooler yet still very dry conditions. This affected some varieties more than others. The season finished well with even ripening conditions.
2009 Great Western Dolcetto

We are not sure when Dolcetto was first planted at our Concongella vineyard but perusing Henry Best’s daily journal we suspect it was about 1870.  What we do know is that it was planted as “Malbeck” – note the “k”- and not correctly identified until 1980.  It has long been a topic of conversation as why Henry Best chose to plant about 25% of the entire vineyard with what is, even today, a lesser known variety.