2019 Domenico Clerico Visadi Dolcetto Langhe 750 ml

Powerful and voluptuous, the 2019 Domenico Clerico Visadì Dolcetto is a fantastic red from one of Barolo’s icons.

A pillar of Piedmontese wine, this Dolcetto is the perfect introduction for the uninitiated while impressively scratching the itch for those already well acquainted with Domenico Clerico’s beloved $200+ Barolos. The 2019 Visadì is one of the most beautiful examples of Dolcetto we’ve ever encountered.

A kiss of bramble and sweet tobacco greets the nose, before enveloping the senses in the region’s classic perfume of tar and roses. Freshly picked red berries fuse with licorice on the palate, dovetailing with a clean mineral frame and generous tannins that give the wine its pulsating energy and length.

For true Barolo lovers, Domenico Clerico is one of those sacrosanct names rarely uttered without a reverential hand-to-the-heart. Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate has described the label’s “emotional, moving wines,” while Vinous’ famed Italian critic Antonio Galloni cites it as formative to his love affair with Piedmont, helping to transform his passion for the region’s wines into a vocation.

One of the markers we value most in benchmark growers like this is the quality of their entry-level offerings—this Dolcetto from the master of Monforte demonstrates the care given to every wine bearing Domenico’s name.

Working with some of the very finest vineyards in the world, Domenico Clerico helped build a new wave of enthusiasm for the wines of Piedmont when he took over his father’s winery in the late 1970s. The Visadì Dolcetto was the very first wine that Domenico bet the farm on, hoping to coax excellence out of the humble grape considered a dinner table staple across the Langhe.

Sourcing his Dolcetto from top south-facing vineyard crus like Bricco San Pietro, Ginestra and Mosconi—from vines as old as 70—Domenico transformed what was once considered a rustic wine into an affordable luxury, worthy of mention alongside some of the most coveted Barolos in the world.

Domenico’s wines remain most often associated with the modernist school, a group of producers—along with contemporaries like Elio Altare, Roberto Voerzio and Enrico Scavino—who made dark, rich, sumptuous wines that shocked a dormant region out of complacency and helped elevate it to the elite status it enjoys today.

Galloni once wrote, “Few producers’ wines have given me as much pleasure over the years as those of Domenico Clerico.” The fact that we’d extend that sentiment to include the label’s entry-level Dolcetto is a true testament to the enduring legacy of this monumental estate.