SOLD OUT! The Marchetti Tenuta del Cavaliere is the finest Verdicchio Classico Superiore I have ever laid my taste buds on. There, I said it!
Maurizio Marchetti’s micro-production, single vineyard Tenuta del Cavaliere is made with late-harvested grapes that spend an extra month on the vine to develop greater body, structure, and flavor intensity. It’s not at all sweet, but it’s richer, lusher, and more opulent than your average Verdicchio.
2017 Marchetti Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi Classico Superiore “Tenuta del Cavaliere”
94 points – JS (that’s me) – Yep, it’s the best Verdicchio I’ve ever tried!
SOLD OUT
Maurizio Marchetti lives just outside Ancona, near the Adriatic coast of Italy. This region sees 200 days of sun each year, and you can taste it in his Tenuta del Cavaliere, his top Verdicchio bottling. Also, his wife is a cardiologist, and let’s just say she makes a pretty healthy living for the family. Since he doesn’t need to rely on his wines to earn an income, Maurizio is picky and discriminating in his vineyards. In fact he is so selective that he sometimes produces as little as a half bottle of wine per plant! It’s this level of care and commitment that makes this wine so special.
For those unfamiliar with Verdicchio, it is certainly one of Italy’s most important white grapes. It can produce everything from fresh, light, and mineral wines to ripe and spicy ones like this one. From the warm and sunny ’17 vintage, Marchetti’s single-vineyard Tenuta del Cavaliere is fermented in stainless steel and is aged for 4 months on the lees. Beautifully expressive, concentrated, and complex, it offers up alluring and exotic notes of apricot, white peach, yellow plum, ginger, assorted spices, and more. Yep, there’s a ton going on here! When you taste it, you’ll understand.
Despite its rich and extroverted personality, it retains wonderfully refreshing verve and acidity. An ideal white to enjoy with spicy stuff, vegetarian fare, and firmer, oilier fish and seafood, it’s also a fabulous aperitif. A word to the wise — DO NOT SERVE THIS ONE TOO COLD! If you do, you’ll dull and dumb it down. I’d like to say that 20 cases will last us all summer, but that will not be the case. Once folks start tasting this one, they’re gonna’ start telling their friends about it, and this one will be gone.
Josh Spurling
Owner, Operator, Wine Monger
Table Wine Asheville