Buy larger glasses for this wickedly cheeky red
2008 Dolcetto, Vigna Nirane, Matteo Ascheri, Piemonte, Italy (£14.50, SWIG, 08000-272272,
www.swig.co.uk
).
This wine has only just arrived in the country and apparently there is still some 2007 (a nice wine, but not remotely as serious as this new 2008) around, so make sure that you buy accurately. SWIG, as usual, is way ahead of the game and they are poised to take your orders for this wickedly cheeky red.
Unoaked, cool-fermented (this method retains fruit and lowers tannins) and bottled in early April – you couldn't get a fresher and more vital red if you tried. The man (in reality he is more of a bear) behind this wine is the great Matteo Ascheri and his dolcetto is one of the most exciting on the market.
There is black cherry, blackberry and brooding plum throughout this wine's long, lithe flavour and yet at no stage does it taste too astringent or raw. This is a sonorously fruity wine with a lust for life as frankly terrifying as the great Iggy Pop, and you'll know it is the greatest barbecue wine of the year the second that you lower your hooter into the glass. Buy larger glasses today.
• Matthew Jukes is a winner of the International Wine & Spirit Competition's Communicator of the Year.