Dolcetto and Some Italian Food

When all was said and done the wine of choice for Sunday's dinner was a 2006 Domenico Clerico Langhe Dolcetto, Visadi. The wine was almost black in the glass with its color extraction. The nose was very earthy with highlights of sweet dark fruit, some spicy oak and some pungent herbs thrown in for good measure. It was certainly a mouthful; heavy, dark fruit moderate acid, tons of both fruit and wood tannins. There was a sweetness to the fruit but then the tannins grabbed the side of the tongue and dried the fruity taste. Very long finish. This was a very big Dolcetto and probably not everyone's cup of tea, but I liked it a great deal. $20 and 14.5% alcohol.


There was a fat chicken that was roasted on the grill after having a compound butter of pulverized, dried porcini mushrooms, pine nuts and butter rubbed between the skin and the meat. It went on the grill over indirect heat for almost an hour with some hickory chips for added flavor.

The risotto combined the rice with the leaves from the rainbow chard and a large dollop of the roasted buttercup squash. It with finished with some Italian cheeses and wee bit of butter. The stems from the chard were sauteed separately and scattered around the edges of the risotto.

The smokiness of the chicken was a great match with the wine. It brought out a bit more fruit and the tannin in the wine certainly cleared the palate between bites of chicken.

There were two happy dogs as some of the chicken skin found its way into their dog food for the evening creating a nice breeze from the wagging tails.