It’s been a busy time in recent weeks. Still working from home, into Week 20 now, and it seems a long time ago that I was last in the office, back on March 16th. Since then, its been like living in a live action reworking of Groundhog Day. On the plus side, I’m loving the commute, which now takes 20 seconds, instead of 40 minutes. With the economy starting to return to existence, I won’t say normal yet, this has had be working long hours to get as much done to get things going as I can, in my own small way – Taking up a lot more time than the first month or so of our original Lockdown.
But I have been able to enjoy my wine collection, and this last weekend I opened up a bottle I have been eyeing up for a while, just waiting for the right moment, and right food to go with it. The wine in question being the 2017 Fattoria Coroncino Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi Classico Il Bacco from the Wine Club, and as the picture shows, with a picada of Italian meats (OK, there was some Spanish Serrano in there as well as Parma), and cheeses closer to home, with some decoration of tomatoes and cucumber, and a dash of pickle, the Verdicchio came out.
The wine is from Marche in Ancona, and is a DOC wine. Under the DOC regulations, 85% of the wine must be Verdicchio, with allowable blending of Trebbiano and Malvasia to smooth out the final product. Unfortunately the web site of the producer is in Italian, and a little out of date, so I cannot be clear what, if any, addition was made in the 2017.
Nicely chilled, and subject to my 20/20 rule, the pour enlisted a yellow colour, with maybe a hint of green around the edges,,,,,,,, Now, my Italian isn’t proficient (OK, non-existant!), but I think that Verdicchio gets part of it name from Verde, which means Green, so maybe I was on the right track.
I was somewhat surprised by the strong nose, as my thoughts of this grape do not recall strong aromas, but there were clear floral, elderflower twitches on my nostrils. On the palate, the citrus fruit flavours came through, lemon, grapefruit, and quite strident acidity, puckering up the lips, but with the fruit balancing out, leaving a fresh, vibrant aftertaste. I had read somewhere in my studies that Almonds were a distinguishing feature of this grape, and maybe there was a hint of the nut left on the tongue, but I wouldn’t say I would have picked that out from the citrus flavours if I hadn’t remembered something from my old books.
Certainly an excellent wine, and yet another great example of the Wine Club Experience. In my constant quest to expand my knowledge, the delivery of the unknown from the Clubs helps to increase the range of flavours, and varietals to experience. Wines I may not find locally here in Ireland, or wines that even if they are on the shelves, I may not have reached for.
The wine went perfectly with the picada, and I would highly recommend picking this up again, if I could.
The Long Wine Road 