Dolcetto: The shy Italian

Dolcettos are underappreciated, said Eric Asimov in The New York Times. Produced in the Langhe region of northwestern Italy, they’re often passed over by oenophiles for flashier Piedmontese cousins made from the nebbiolo grape. But the dolcettos below are superb everyday wines, each offering an object lesson in earthiness, a lightly tannic texture, and “the very Italian push-pull of blending bitter and sweet.”

2010 Luigi Einaudi Dolcetto Di Dogliani Superiore Vigna Tecc ($23). This wine’s “superb” structure offers “a beautiful balance of sweet, bitter, and earthy.”

2010 Anna Maria Abbona Dolcetto Di Dogliani Sorí dij But ($17). This “forthright” dolcetto is “so fresh and lively that it seemed to want to leap out of the glass.”

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2011 Aldo Conterno Langhe Dolcetto Masante ($22). This “bright, round” wine offers “a captivating tension between fruity and bitter.”