I leave for Italy in two days. As such, I HAD to talk about Italian wine for this week’s Thirsty. And with all the busyness of THAT, I’m a little behind in my writing, with about three posts sitting in draft mode. So apologies for this being one day late!

This past Monday, I sat down with my friends and tasted a whole line-up of Italian wines for practise in preparation for this trip. (It was also my full intention to post about these, but quite frankly, I’m running out of time and steam for that matter, as I’ve been studying diligently every night.) There was a lot of wine, and a lot of monovarietals with aroma and flavour profiles to lock away in the their respective filing cabinets.  I struggle with that…if I taste a wine, and then taste the same wine even an hour later, I can’t figure out which filing cabinet to open…but that’s an entirely different topic…

A wine that has been tasted previously, but not on that night, is perhaps a wine from one of Italy’s finest white grapes: Verdicchio. Found in Marche, Veneto, Lombardy and Lazio (but mostly Marche), today’s example is from the DOCG of Castelli di Jesi Verdicchio Reserva. Already with those four capital letters of DOCG, I’m expecting good quality! The cool thing about this grape is that it has high levels of acidity which means it can be refreshing in youth, but also has the ability to age. Nice. It’s also a grape that wears many hats in the form of styles.  It can be dry, sweet or sparkling. Nice!

I personally love this wine! A small amount of oak was used to give this wine Chardonnay-esque qualities, but for those that are ABC, this is a fantastic alternative. This is a bright lemon yellow colour with lovely floral aromas, minerality, and of course that slight vanilla on both the nose and palate. 20% of the wine is aged in small barrels along with ageing on the lees that gives it that creamy edge. Quite full body on this with an intense, lasting finish. Perfect with food such as fish or poultry, or just for sipping. All this for a great price of $31.95 on the shelf!

Stay tuned for more Thirsty in about two weeks time!  I’m off to Italy tomorrow!  Cin Cin!