Casalone Dolce Mariposa 2009

The Casalone Mariposa is made from Bracchetto grapes, grown in Piedmont, the land of world class Barolo's in northwestern Italy. This slightly sweet, slightly sparkling, low-alcohol red is the perfect picnic wine, or aperitif wine. It's sort of an all-purpose wine but we suggest pairing with chocolate desserts or as a refreshing appetizer wine with charcuteries.

Piedmont is the most "Frenchified" of all Italian wine regions. The long valleys of the Alpine foothills lead to easier travel to France's southern coast and inland than to the rest of Italy. It is perhaps for this reason that the Piedmontese have long practiced the most refined wine traditions of any Italian region. Terroir-based wisdom trickled down from early French masters (monks, typically) to this area. Known mostly for their reds (but producing some excellent whites,) from the early ripening Dolcetto grape to the lofty, deep reds of Barolo and Barbaresco crafted from the Nebbiolo grape, these wines are clearly crafted using centuries of terroir-based winemaking.