Slap in the face

There’s the culprit. But hang on a sec, I hear you ask – how can a grape slap you in the face? If you have 5 minutes, you’ll find out.

So recently I did something I’ve been curious about for ages and signed up for a sommelier course, level 1. We have weekly lessons dealing with different parts of the wine world (how to make wine; what contributes to the flavour and colour; terroir, etc.) and the culmination of each lesson is the Tasting – three wines each pop.

Besuited, bejewelled, aproned Sommeliers bustle about the room and pour a bit of the chosen beverage into our personal wine-tasting glasses.

Each bottle is firmly wrapped in tin foil so we can’t see what we’re drinking. We observe the liquid glugging into the glass – is it red? white? bubbly? – and notice its density. We tilt the glass to the light and observe its colour, brilliance or lack thereof. Then we sniff it and do a sort of smell check. Is it aromatic? Does it linger? More fruity or flowery? Vanilla? Tobacco? Tar? Red fruits or summer fruits? Finally, we sip and savour.

Last week, we were presented with a reddish fizzy wine, a simple red, and a white.

Let’s focus on the white, which was clear, almost crytalline and light yellow with some greenish tints. A young wine, perhaps? I brought my nose to the glass and was pleasantly rewarded with a range of perfectly agreeable aromas – flowery, white fruits, a hint of grapefruit. Time to taste. I sipped – and grimaced. Ugh! What a disappointment. Though our leading sommelier spoke of ‘young almond’ he admitted it was quite acidic. I sipped again and frowned. It was vile. This could only be a Verdicchio!

A note about this grape. It’s quite well-known as being closely linked to the region we live in – Le Marche – particularly Jesi and the Upper Esina Valley (Matelica). Its existence here has been documented since the Early Middle Ages and it was first called ‘Verdicchio’ in 1569. It’s a total Local Hero – the locals are absolutely wild about the wine that is produced here – with a minimum 85% Verdicchio grapes.

The grape produces wines which are highly acidic and often used to blend with other, mellower grapes, though some Verdicchios are aged and mellow out considerably. However, the wine is ‘characteristic and decisive’ (says Italian Wine Chronicle) but to me, that’s extremely complimentary. The wine is decisive – because it hits you like a slap in the face.

Still reeling from the shock, I waited as the sommelier unclothed the bottle. “You have been drinking EGOS,from Cantine Provima, 2021, 13,5% alcohol content – Verdicchio di Matelica. I choked. I will never appreciate that wine, it’s too much like the marchigiani…