All due respect goes out to the folks at APS Wine & Spirits in Oakland, CA, who not only import today’s wine but describe it as “an accordion of greens and yellows.” Speaking for myself here, I think we need more of this kind of wine talk—and more of this kind of wine—in our lives.
A numerical score wouldn’t do this wine justice because (a) it’s not really designed to garner big ‘points’ and (b) only the most Italian-centric critics would have any affinity for Verdicchio to begin with (many wine aficionados still associate Verdicchio with thin, simple whites in fish-shaped bottles, but they’re mostly aging out of the market at this point). Italian wine expert and author Ian D’Agata calls Verdicchio “arguably Italy’s greatest native grape variety,” citing not only its panoply of green and yellow fruits but its capacity for balancing substantial body and ripeness with bracing acidity and minerality. Today’s wine, from Verdicchio’s home turf in the central Italian region of Le Marche, isn’t just a fanciful departure from your white-wine norms: It is, as I am so fond of saying, a genuine wine of place at a commodity-wine price. From a value-for-dollar perspective, it’s a 100-pointer, as far as I’m concerned.
This is due at least in part to my having been to the Marche, and how a wine like Dezi’s “Solagne” takes me right back there. The Marche boasts one of Italy’s most beautiful and relatively untrammeled stretches of Adriatic coastline, and whites from Verdicchio are what you drink with whatever seafood they pull out of the water there. Such is the hyper-local nature of Italian viticulture: Although Verdicchio is found in a few other regions (under different names), its greatest expressions are undoubtedly Marchigiano. The two principal growing zones for the variety are the Castelli di Jesi area in the north-central hills and, further to the west, the Matelica area closer to the Apennines. Fattoria Dezi is headquartered south of these two DOCs, in Servigliano, where its vineyards enjoy similar positioning at a near-midpoint between mountains and sea. Servigliano sits in the shadow of Monte Vettore, one of the highest peaks in the Apennines and a source of vineyard-refreshing breezes that counterbalance warmer air from the Adriatic to the east.
And while Dezi’s vineyards don’t fall within any officially delimited Verdicchio appellations (they use the catchall “Marche” designation on their labels), they are some of the longest-established, well cared-for Verdicchio vines in the region. The wine estate was founded in the early 1950s by brothers Romolo and Remi Dezi, who passed along a lifetime on know-how and some prized heirloom vines on to Romolo’s sons, Davide and Stefano, who run the estate today. The youngest vines on the estate were planted in 1980 and are farmed organically, under Davide’s supervision (Stefano runs the cellar).
“Solagne” is sourced from vines averaging 40+ years of age in Servigliano’s sandy, volcanic soils. The wine is fermented and aged only in stainless steel and displays great fruit purity, with a nice saline touch on the finish. In the glass, it’s a deep yellow gold with characteristic Verdicchio flashes of green (the grape is one of many in Italy whose berries skew verde (green) on the vine and, eventually, the palate). Aromas of green melon, green apple, salted lemon, mango, white flowers, and a hint of sea spray carry through to a medium-plus-bodied palate, where they unfold, accordion-style (!), before giving way to a “bowl of rocks” finish. Much like Loire Chenin Blanc, Verdicchio offers up a sumptuous push-pull of juicy, palate-coating texture and racy acidity (and, like Chenin, is a shape-shifter that ends up everywhere from sparkling to sweet). Today’s 2016 is ready to drink now and over the next year or two with lemon-drizzled seafood of every stripe: simply pull the cork 10 minutes before serving in all-purpose white wine stems at 45-50 degrees and pair it with quick-sautéed calamari. One sip, and one bite, tells you everything you need to know: these two were made for each other!
