Oz Wine Facts – Dolcetto Wines

Dolcetto is a black grape variety most widely planted in the Piedmont region of Italy. While one theory suggests that this dark-skinned grape originated in the Piedmontese village of Dogliani, another one claims that this grape variety experienced its origins in France, and was introduced in Monferrato sometime during the 11th century.

(source: Wine Australia)

Although the Italian term Dolcetto translates to ‘little sweet one,' it isn’t known whether the grape was initially named so because of its sugar levels. Dolcetto wines are usually dry, with moderate to low acidity, and abundant tannins. They are slowly gaining recognition worldwide, with young and upcoming winemakers adopting newer varieties to craft a vast array of wines.

Below are some statistics highlighting the growth and sale of Dolcetto in Australia in 2016 –

Viticulture

In the year 2016, out of 135,000 ha of Aussie land planted with grapevines, Dolcetto grapes were planted on roughly 100 ha of vineyard sites. None of these grapevines was new, and the bearing area came out to 99.4% of the total growing area.

Grape Production

Aussie wineries crushed about 1,608,000 tonnes of various grapes in 2016. The crushing of Dolcetto grapes was calculated to be 800 tonnes, with 300 tonnes of the fruit being sourced from cold climate regions, and the other half was grown and crushed in warm inland wine regions of Australia.

(source: Wine Australia)

Out of the vineyard regions where Dolcetto is famous, the Riverina region took the top spot, producing about 32% of the whole Dolcetto grapes grown. Other wine regions where Dolcetto thrived were – Swan Hill in Victoria (26%), Heathcote (16%), King Valley (14%), and Limestone Coast (5%).

Export Data

When the 2016 export numbers for Australian wine came in, New Zealand was declared the highest importer of Aussie Dolcetto wines (66% of the total wine production). 11% of the total was exported to Nepal, 6% to the United Kingdom, 4% to UAE, and 3% to Malaysia.

Of the total export value, the most wine bottles sold (71%) fall in the range of $5/L to $7.49/L. 18% of the total lies in the group of $2.50/L to $4.99/L, 9% in the category of $7.50/L to $9.99/L, and 2% in the bracket of $10/L to $19.99/L.