A Wine Lover's Weekly Guide to $10 Wines - A Distinctively Bottled Verdicchio

The wine reviewed below comes from Thepotatoes. The meal softened the wine's acidity
Marches, the Italian region whose residentssomewhat. Later on the wine bounced back in the
consume the most wine per capita in all Italy.sense that it once again became excessively
Furthermore, this is The Marches best knownharsh.
wine. Don't jump to conclusions, read our review.The second meal included a omelet with
The bottle is distinctive; I'm talking about its designhomemade pesto. The Verdicchio was light and
that dates back to 1954. That was the year thefruity, that's grapefruit. It showed good acidity
Cleveland Indians winner of a record 111 gameswhen paired with a garden-fresh style tomato.
lost the World Series to the New York Giants inFor dessert I had some French-style high quality
four straight thanks in large part to Willy Mayslemon pie with a buttery crust. The wine's acidity
historic catch, in effect robbing Vic Wertz of aincreased and it picked up some sweetness.
home run. Was anyone in New York celebratingThe final meal was a boxed Eggplant Parmesan
with Verdicchio way back then? This wine doesslathered with grated parmesan cheese. The wine
come in a sparkling version but you don't findbecame somewhat thin but its acidity did balance
much of it in North America today, andthe tomatoes in the sauce.
presumably even less in the mid-1950s. Let's seeBefore the cheese pairings I tasted this drink with
if you want to celebrate with this white wine; theMatjes herring. It was fairly weak but did present
second most exported Italian white after Soave.refreshing acidity. Next was the Gouda cheese.
(You may want to check out our recent SoaveThe wine perked up in flavor and length but was
review.)still fairly mild. Then I went to a Swiss cheese; it's
OUR WINE REVIEW POLICY All wines that wea different Swiss than in the past and does not
taste and review are purchased at the full retailcarry the term Emmenthaler but only Swiss.
price.Perhaps because this Swiss cheese is less forceful
Wine Reviewedthan the previous examples, the wine continued
Fazi Battaglia Verdicchio (dei Castelli di Jesi) 2008to pick up strength and now qualifies as round.
12.0% alcohol about $9.50Final verdict. No dice. I am told that producers,
Let's start with the marketing materials. Tastingperhaps other producers, are making changes
Note: Pale lemon yellow with green tint; greensuch as temperature controlled stainless steel
apple and mineral aroma and taste; slight spritz,fermentation and reducing the grape volume per
light body clean, slightly tart grapefruit finish.acre to produce a more distinctive Verdicchio than
Serving Suggestion: Serve chilled as an aperitif orin bygone years. I drank the old Verdicchio and
with fresh oysters. And now for my review.the new one. I don't remember any differences.
With the first sips the wine was harshly acidic andThis is a forgettable wine. Unlike the 1954 World
short. The initial meal consisted of zucchini stuffedSeries, especially if you come from Cleveland,
with rice and ground beef cooked on a bed ofOhio.