A Wine Pairing Lesson with Verdicchio #ItalianFWT
Learn Verdicchio with the Italian Food Wine & Travel Group
April brings warm weather and our Italian wine loving group is itching to get back into Italian white wines, so Verdicchio is our theme for the month. I must admit, I too often lean on Italian reds. I have a good mental picture for how the major red wines taste, but the whites can be elusive. Time for more tasting! Take a look farther down this post for links to all my Italian wine loving friends posts on this lovely grape and white wine!
Verdicchio from the Marche Region
We don’t hear much about the Marche region of Italy in the states, which is too bad. There are interesting red and white wines from the region found to the east of better known Tuscany. The challenge is to get to the Marche requires crossing the Appenine mountains which run nearly the length of Italy from north to south. The principal white wine from the region and perhaps the best regarded wine overall is Verdicchio, made in a couple of different communities: Castelli dei Jesi and Matelica.
Marotti Campi “Luzano” Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi Classico Superiore DOC 2016 ($15 at France 44)
Eye: Clear, pale lemon color
Nose: Clean, medium intensity flowers and herbs in front, fruit is well behind. White flowers, fresh garden herbs and a little tomato leaf (a touch green), underripe pears a bit of lemon.
Mouth: Dry, brightly refreshing and acidic. Medium body, medium+ acidity, medium alcohol, flavors of pears, a bit of green herbs, with a touch of almond in the finish. 13.5% abv aged on lees.
A Near Miss Pairing with Verdicchio
Chicken Skewers with Fruity Cashew Quinoa make a delicious and healthy combination. I never thought of a meal as “fruit forward” before, but the chicken and quinoa definitely are just that. The thing is, the Verdicchio is not fruit forward, being more floral and herbal. This wine was a better pairing with the asparagus side dish. It wasn’t bad, but a more fruity wine would match the main dish better. In the past, I searched for that perfect pairing, but recently have come over to the idea that food friendly wines are pretty flexible. This dish was a reminder to pay attention to stronger flavors in the food.
Verdhicchio paired beautifully with the asparagus, but the “fruit forward” main dish suggested a more fruity wine.
The Recipe
Simply skewer up chunks of chicken breast with apple, onion and red pepper. You’ll need 1 lb. of boneless chicken breast and 2 apples, 1 large onion, and 1-2 red peppers for 4 servings. The Fruity Cashew Quinoa recipe can be found here. Note the photos and recipe don’t agree exactly, we went with the recipe advice of fine dice on the fruit and nuts, their photo shows large chunks!
ItalianFWT Dives into Verdicchio
Lots of good ideas from our #ItalianFWT buddies this month. Lynn from Savor the Harvest tipped us off to an informative session with Gianluca Garofoli Levi Dalton’s “I’ll Drink to That” podcast. If you see this soon enough, please join our chat on Twitter at 10am CDT on April 7.
- Jeff at FoodWineClick! gives us a A Wine Pairing Lesson with Verdicchio.
- Camilla at Culinary Adventures with Camilla pours Bisci Verdicchio di Matelica with a Panzanella di Primavera.
- Wendy at A Day in the Life on the Farm serves up Scallop Crudo with Verdicchio.
- Katarina at Grapevine Adventures offers a Multinational Spring Lunch with Verdicchio.
- Jane at Always Ravenous shares Verdicchio Paired with the Flavors of Spring.
- Nicole at Somm’s Table posts Cooking to the Wine: Azienda Santa Barbara Verdicchio and Tuna Melts.
- Lauren at The Swirling Dervish pairs Verdicchio and Roasted Vegetables: A Match Made in Heaven.
- Lynn at Savor the Harvest has A Spring Date With Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi.
- Susannah of Avvinare listens as Verdicchio Sings of Spring.
- Jennifer of Vino Travels shares Verdicchio of the Marche with Tenuta di Tavignano.
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foodwineclick 
Cool post, Jeff. I agree that Italian white wines are significantly under appreciated in the United States. Friuli has always done extraordinary things with white wine, and Italian varietals are amongst my favorite in the world (Vermentino, Verdicchio and Garganega immediately come to mind). Not to mention other mainstay grapes like Chardonnay that are excellently produced in Italy. Keep it up Jeff!
Cheers, Seth
Thanks, Seth!
Interesting. I would have thought that the pairing would have worked. On a good note, it is hard to pair asparagus so now you have a go to wine for that purpose.
Thanks, Wendy. My mental map for Verdicchio now says: vegetable wine!
Nice pairing insight Jeff regarding the floral and herbal aspect of your Verdicchio. Talking about nice white wines for spring and mentioning Verdicchio, most friends shared they were not familiar with this grape and mentioned Pinot Grigio. We need to spread the word, people are missing out!
I agree, Lynn. I was a bit surprised to see references to Verdicchio as the finest white wine from Italy and it is hardly known except by Italian wine fans!
Verdicchio is weird like that. A good thing, in my opinion! I’ve found it can even be a nice match with white pizza with artichokes – another difficult pairing.
White pizza with artichokes sounds great, and I agree, Verdicchio would be perfect. Stand by for a future white pizza with artichokes post!
I’m actually surprised it didn’t do better with the Chicen, but I’m sure it was delicious w the asparagus!
Or “chicken”
It was fine with the chicken, it was the fruit that didn’t play nice. It was good to add another wine to the “pairs with asparagus” list!
Thanks for helping spread the word about Verdicchio. And great thoughts on food pairing. I agree that complementing profiles work well; sometimes, though, I like the contrast. Can’t wait to pour a Verdicchio with asparagus again.
Thanks for helping spread the word about Verdicchio. And great thoughts on food pairing. I agree that complementing profiles work well; sometimes, though, I like the contrast. Can’t wait to pour a Verdicchio with asparagus again.
Thanks, Cam!
You don’t always know until you try/taste it together, but either way amazingly good or bad food & wine pairings are the ones you remember.
You’re right, Jane. I’ll always remember Verdicchio now!
The dish looks delicious and was an interesting observation how it wasn’t the perfect pairing with the quinoa as expected. We always hear the opposite, but it’s good to learn what works and what doesn’t.
Oh, I like Marotti Campi…, especially for their Lacrima di Morro d’Alba. Used to have that often when I traveled more frequently to Marche before. 🙂