Grape Guide
Verdicchio
WhiteVerdicchio is the white grape of the Marche, in central Italy, where it makes the lemony, almond-finished wines of Castelli di Jesi and Matelica. The same variety grows under other names in Veneto and Lombardy, notably as Trebbiano di Soave and Turbiana, so one genetic identity underlies several well-known denominations.
Key Characteristics
- Mid to late ripening, with naturally high acidity
- Prone to powdery and downy mildew, and to sour rot and botrytis bunch rot alike
- Genetically identical to Trebbiano di Soave, Trebbiano di Lugana (Turbiana), Trebbiano Valtenesi and Peverella
- Principal plantings in the Marche, the Veneto and Lombardy
- Distinct from the pink-berried vine that some collections also call Verdicchio
Typical Flavors
Major Regions
Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi (Marche) · Verdicchio di Matelica (Marche) · Soave (Veneto) · Lugana (Lombardy and Veneto) · Esino (Marche) · Trentino (as Peverella)
Also Known As
Verdicchio Bianco · Trebbiano di Soave (Veneto · Lombardy) · Trebbiano di Lugana and Turbiana (Lake Garda) · Trebbiano Valtenesi (Brescia) · Peverella (Trentino) · Pfefferer (Alto Adige) · Verdicchio Marchigiano (Marche) · Verdone (Marche) · Trebbiano di Verona (Verona) · Turbiano (Vicenza)
Overview
Verdicchio is a mid to late ripening white with naturally high acidity, and that acidity shapes the wines: citrus-led, taut, and finishing on a bitter-almond note. The best examples combine freshness with real body and a slightly saline, waxy texture, and they gain honeyed, nutty and beeswax tones over a decade or more in bottle. It is grown chiefly in the Marche, but the same vine is also called Trebbiano di Soave and Turbiana. Because it travels under several local names, its role changes from place to place. In the Marche it is the sole or dominant grape of the two principal DOCs; in Soave it is a supporting partner to Garganega, adding perfume; around the southern end of Lake Garda it is the base of Lugana, where the warmer climate gives fuller, more aromatic wines than the Adriatic hills. Prolonged skin contact once added weight to Marche versions but also made them coarse, and the practice has largely been abandoned.
Origins & History
The earliest named reference to a grape called Verdicchio dates to 1569, in the manuscripts of the naturalist Costanzo Felici of Piobbico in the Marche. It appears again at Matelica in 1579 and in the Ascoli Piceno area in 1596. Records of Trebbiano vines in both the Marche and the Veneto go back to the thirteenth century, and some of them may describe the same plant. Its original home is debated. One view places it in the Veneto and holds that settlers carried it south in the fifteenth century, when the plague-emptied Marche countryside was being resettled; another allows that it could be native to central Italy. From the 1990s, enzyme and DNA studies showed that Verdicchio is identical to Trebbiano di Soave, grown around Verona and Brescia, and to Trebbiano di Lugana (Turbiana) and Trebbiano Valtenesi on Lake Garda. Later profiling showed that Peverella, an old Trentino vine known as Pfefferer in Alto Adige and nearly lost after phylloxera, is also the same variety. The Peverella found in Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil has been confirmed as Verdicchio too, probably carried there by Trentino emigrants in the late nineteenth century. Maceratino appears to be a close relative. The pink-berried vine sometimes called Verdicchio is a different variety, with a parent-offspring link to Mammolo. No parentage has been established for true Verdicchio, which was itself used as a parent of the Marche crossing Incrocio Bruni 54. A connection to the uva aminea described by the Roman writer Columella is occasionally proposed but remains speculation.
Viticultural Characteristics
Verdicchio ripens mid to late in the season, so it needs a long growing cycle to reach full flavour while holding on to its acidity, and a dry, open autumn matters in the Adriatic hills. Powdery mildew and downy mildew are both threats, and the variety is especially vulnerable to sour rot and to bunch rot caused by botrytis, so canopy management, good air movement and careful picking decisions are central to quality. The best Marche vineyards are hillside sites on clay and limestone-rich soils at moderate altitude, where cool nights help preserve acidity. Matelica, further inland and higher than the Jesi hills, is generally the cooler of the two Marche zones. Vigour and crop level need restraint, since over-cropped Verdicchio tends toward neutral, thin wines.
Wine Styles & Characteristics
Dry, unoaked still white is the core style: lemon, green apple and almond, with brisk acidity and a bitter-almond finish. Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi DOC includes Classico, from the historic heartland, and Superiore, which asks for lower yields and higher alcohol. Castelli di Jesi Verdicchio Riserva, a DOCG since 2010, requires at least 18 months of ageing and 12.5% alcohol, and Verdicchio di Matelica Riserva is also a DOCG. Single-estate cuvees, including Casal di Serra from Umani Ronchi and Mirum from La Monacesca, can improve in bottle for as long as a good white Burgundy. The high acidity also suits sparkling wine, made in the Marche since the nineteenth century, and small amounts of sweet passito are produced. In Lugana the grape gives riper, rounder wines, with Superiore, Riserva and sparkling versions, while in Soave it is a minor blending component.