Douce Noire, sometimes referred to as Corbeau, was once thought to be identical to Dolcetto since both names translate to “sweet black.” As fanciful hypotheses go, this is as wrong as they come, thanks to DNA profiling. It turns out that this nearly extinct variety native to Isère seems to have found its way to the New World – incognito as Charbono in California and Bonarda in Argentina. That is correct, all that Bonarda in Argentina is actually Douce Noire and not one of the several versions of Bonarda from Italy. So this nearly extinct variety isn’t so nearly extinct at all, except in its homeland. Plumy and less tart as Dolcetto (no relation!) and much more refined than Bonarda from Argentina (perhaps regrettable relation), Jérémy Bricka’s Douce Noire makes you wonder why it isn’t more widely planted in the Savoie.
