Collestefano – Verdicchio Matelica
Championed by Gambero Rosso as the rising star in the Verdicchio appellation, Colle Stefano (www.collestefano.com) is one of the several dedicated growers committed to sustainable agriculture in the Marches – the rural, green region nestled in central Italy that gives shoulders to Umbria and Tuscany and faces onto the Adriatic sea.
Colle Stefano is a father & son winery based in Matelica, a scarcely accessible mountainous locality stuck in the heart of upcountry Marches. Compared to mainstream Verdicchio di Jesi, the Matelica Doc appellation is noted for producing lean, nervy, minerally whites that can hold well for years. Acid is a word that is mostly avoided when writing about wine, but the lovely fruity acidity of the Colle Stefano Verdicchio is what makes it so lively and distinctive, and so good with food.
Owner Fabio Marchionni took over the family vineyards from his father a few years ago, having just graduated from the new oenology school in Ancona and done his apprenticeship in Germany, where he learnt the most advanced techniques of biologic viticulture to apply them to his family vineyards in Matelica. He keeps yields extremely low, less than forty 40 Hl per hectare, and makes wine with painstaking care.
You could eat off the floor of the winery (and hygiene is very important when making this kind of white wine). The wine ages in stainless steel, no oak, and malolactic fermentation is prevented through cold temperature and a sparing use of So2 (less than 70 mg/lt total). Colle Stefano makes less than four thousand cases of Verdicchio. We love this white for its racy, stony and vitalizing mouthfeel. Use it where you might use a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc, a French Muscadet or a German Riesling: great as aperitif wine, but simply heavenly with shellfish and all kind of seafood.
WEBSITE: www.collestefano.com
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