Weekend Wine

Do you love Italian food with a delicious tomato sauce base? Whether it's eggplant parmesan or something easy like spaghetti and meatballs, this is when you really want to find a fruity red wine with some tannic grip to be able to keep up with the tomato’s bright flavors.

Wine lovers will know the Dolcetto grape, but if the word is new to you, allow me to introduce you. The grape is mostly grown in the Piemonte area of Italy where it has to compete with more famous red wines like Barbera, Barolo, and Barbaresco. Despite a translation that kind of means little sweetie, the Dolcetto makes very tannic wines with (comparatively) low acidity.

Poderi Luigi Einaudi makes wonderful wines in several styles, but they have become world famous for their Dolcettos. If you are a real music fan, the last name might mean something to you as composer Ludovico Einaudi is one of Italy’s favorite sons. Their entry level wine is Dolcetto di Dogliani ($15), a very easy-to-drink Italian red wine that makes magic with a lot of different foods, but especially anything with a tomato base. If you end up captivated by its charms, you might want to try their fancier version of Dolcetto, the Dogliani Superiore Vigna Tecc ($25). Besides the better grapes, the Superiore spends some time on wood, versus the less expensive wine that spends it life in stainless steel.

Finally, if you are trying to determine how Texas wines compete with world wines, why not test one of Texas’s best wineries versus one of the premier old world versions of Dolcetto. Bingham Vineyards up near Lubbock makes one of Texas’s top Dolcettos, and their Reserve Dolcetto ($35) is currently available.