NUMBERS

Reclassifications allow us to understand how it is possible to pass from a production in hectoliters that would give us a certain number of potential bottles to a lower production of actual bottles. Since Dogliani cannot be sold in large jugs, or “demijohns” and since there is still a demand for this wine on behalf of people from these areas who use it for family consumption, it is sometimes sold in bulk only after being reclassified as “Langhe Dolcetto” or “Langhe Rosso”. Shown here is the data from the past years, since 2012.

The claims made by grape producers in their harvest declarations, as well as the claims made by those who make the wine and by those who bottle it, allow us to understand the actual amount of grapes used compared to wine produced. A greater amount of bottled wine compared to the year’s production may be possible if, for example, those who bottle the wine purchase additional bulk wine, if small grape producers hire third parties for the wine-making process and then declare the wine derives from their own grapes but was vinified by others, or if, because of a cease in production, part of the wine being bottled is actually from a past vintage.

2016 CLAIMS

DECLARATIONS OF GRAPE PRODUCTION IN DOGLIANI:                  366    (212  FROM SUPPLIERS OF COOPERATIVE WINERIES)

REQUESTS FOR THE PRODUCTION OF DOGLIANI WINE:               80

REQUESTS FOR BOTTLING CERTIFICATIONS:    86

This table helps us understand how production is split up among the different companies, what the most common business sizes in the area are, and how much production they control.
The first column shows the number of bottles and tells us, for example, that based on the 2016 bottling requests we only have 3 companies producing between 200,000 and 500,000 bottles, two of which are surely the two larger local wine cooperatives, and that these three companies make 43% of the bottled product.
The third column indicates the number of bottles claimed by these three companies and the fourth shows their percentage share they hold.

VINTAGE 2015

VINTAGE 2016

This data does not specifically refer to vineyards of Dolcetto but to all the vineyards within each single municipality of the Dogliani Docg appellation. These numbers refer to vineyards with different varietals found in this territory although, historically Dolcetto is the main one to be planted whereas Barbera is rarer.

In fact, knowing the surface area of ​​the individual communes that is planted with dolcetto and assuming that other varieties, different from Dolcetto, were planted more recently, we can hypothesize that a percentage of the Dolcetto vineyards are older than 30 years. For example: knowing that the surface of Dolcetto vineyards in the municipality of Dogliani is 441 hectares and that the sum of the data show below is 578 hectares means that, with regards to age of the vineyards, 136 hectares are planted with other varieties. Presumably, out of 441 hectares of Dolcetto, if not all 312 hectares, at least 250 are more than 30 years old.
The data relative to the age of the vineyards is collected in the vinicultural registers and, by tracking the age of surfaces with only Dolcetto with more precision, we can continue researching this topic.