Wines

With over 40,000 farms and estates producing grapes and with over 6,000 bottlers, it seems surprising that the wines of Le Marche are not better known. However with the extraordinary recent improvement in quality and an incredible new burst of energy by traditional producers, Le Marche wines are on the verge of becoming as famous as their Tuscan neighbours.

Probably the most famous wine from the area is the Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi produced from the local verdicchio grape and possibly one of the oldest vines in Italy. It is believed that the Piceni who colonised Le Marche 800 years before the birth of Christ, learned how to cultivate the vine and make wine from the ancient Etruscans. Verdicchio is considered above all a fish wine, its delicate and characteristic nose with a dry balanced flavour and slightly bitterish aftertaste proving ideal to accompany the freshest of fish served in restaurants along the Adriatic coast.

The best red wine in the region is quite definitely Pelago, the cru of producers Umani Ronchi. Pelago is a blend of 50% Cabernet Sauvignon, 40% Montepulciano and 10% Merlot and is aged for 14 months in oak barrels. In 1998 at the International Wine Challenge in London over 6,700 wines were presented: from Chateau Latour and Opus One to more simple table wines. 300 tasters and 40 masters of wine awarded "The Best Red Wine in the World Award" to the Pelago 1994, a marvellous achievement for the world renowned enologist Giacomo Tachis, creator of Tignanello and Sassicaia who blended the wine.

Another winery to achieve international fame is Elvio Alessandro's Boccadigabbia where the vines grow on land that was once the part of the property of the Frenchman, Eugenio Beauharnais, viceroy of Italy. The wonderful concentration of Cabernet Sauvignon flavours are remarkably prominent in both the Akronte '93 and '94. For the verdicchio afficionado some of the best producers as well as Umani Ronchi include, Sartarelli, Gioacchino Garofoli and Vallerosa Bonci.

There is one other wine from Le Marche which should should be experienced though its production is extremely limited - Vino Cotto (literally means cooked wine and tastes a bit like sherry). In fact its sale is prohibited by European Community law but the Carabinieri turn a blind eye to its production and even allow the city of Macerata to stage a festival dedicated to its production. It is an extraordinary taste, full-bodied fortified wine with a balsamic flavour and a highly pronounced aroma. The locals claim it to be an invigorating tonic and the wine was even praised by Pliny the Elder in Roman times. He explained that "cooked must is a product of ingenuity and not nature. It is cooked down until it has a third of its volume." Enjoy...