Anna Maria Abbona

We cannot speak about Anna Maria Abbona without speaking about the terroir of her home region, Dogliani. It was here, in the town of Moncucco di Farigliano, where Anna Maria made a firm commitment in the 1980s to cultivating the Dolcetto grape rather than the more usual Nebbiolo. Anna Maria's decision paid off and has been successful thanks not only to the grand crus they run for cultivating Dolcetto vines, but for their wise choices of crop location and the work they are carrying out following organic, or ecological, management principles.

Linked to the Italian Slow Food movement, Chiocciola, the Anna Maria Abbona winery is devoted body and soul to producing excellent Dolcettos which are considered to be among the best Piedmont red wines. The land plays an important part as Dogliani produces perhaps the most typical, complete and complex Dolcetto of all the Piedmont appellations. Dolcetto wines from Dogliani in the DOCG Alta Langa are smooth and fragrant, fresh, structured, flavoursome and elegant. The white limestone soil, rich in sand and loam, produces a ruby coloured wine with glints of violet, and combines hints of blackberry, raspberry, and cherry with deeper and more intense aromas of undergrowth, liquorice, and tobacco.

Among Anna Maria Abbona's Dolcetto wines, the Maioli stands out — a Dogliani Superior produced with grapes from ideally located old vines, it is a long, intense and exceptionally balanced wine, with a surprising and refined future in the bottle. San Bernardo, a wine with a long ageing process in oak barrels, is only made in the best vintage years. It stands out for its class and roundness. And for fans of a basic unembellished Dolcetto, try Sorì dij But, a vertical, fragrant and young wine.

Apart from their range of Dolcettos, the Anna Maria Abbona winery also produces L'Alman, a Riesling wine with excellent minerality and longevity, which is one of the best wines in Piedmont. We mustn't forget their Barolo wines either. They produce a traditional one, aged in large barrels, a crispy and powerful wine with the typicity of the area of Castiglione Falletto; and a second Barolo from the Bricco San Pietro cru which has more tertiary notes thanks to spending longer in wood. Last but not least, Nascetta Netta is a local white wine from the Langhe hills which is always interesting and fun to drink.