Sandrone’s Dolcetto is without doubt one of the very finest examples of the region. In his seminal book, Barolo to Valpolicella, Nicolas Belfrage describes the Sandrone Dolcetto as a “mouthful of sheer fruit, but with guts.” That book was last published in 2004, and the wine has only improved in the vintages that have followed. The consistent quality of this wine–its purity, silky texture, fine tannins and balance–can only come with perfectly ripe fruit from top sites.

Between the Dolcetto vine and the Langa hills there is a pact that has lasted for centuries. Not only because the grape was born on these hills on the right bank of the Tanaro river. Above all, for the strong bond that has endured between this grape variety and its wine and the people who live in these areas. If it is common to look at the hills and track in their crests and slopes the well-defined rows of Dolcetto during the four seasons of the year, it is just as common to look at the wineglasses set on the tables in the houses of the region and find in them the colors and fragrant aromas of youthful Dolcetto d’Alba.