88 Points | International Wine Cellar , November/December 2011

(14% alcohol):  Red-ruby.  Wildly aromatic nose combines liqueur-like crushed cherry and blackberry and pungent notes of rosemary, oregano and thyme.  Dense, rich and liqueur-like; outsized for dolceto but with a a streak of acidity leavening the wine's rather exotic sweetness.  Pliant and distinctive.  "The '09s had higher alcohol because we had to wait for the acids to go down and the skins to ripen before we picked," noted Mauro Mascarello.  (In comparison, the 2009 Dolcetto d'Alba Bricco showed a somewhat overripe/underripe quality.)