2020 Garofoli, Supèra, Verdicchio di Metelica DOC, Le Marche, Italy.
New in the Garofoli lineup is their first Verdicchio di Metelica DOC wine, called Supèra, it is a nod to the future and as they winery says, to expanding possibilities and potential in the higher elevation Metelica Valley in the Appenines Mountain range a bit further inland from the Adriatic Sea. Having worked with Verdicchio solely from the Castelli di Jesi area for generations, Matelica is a new adventure for the Garofoli family who have a long tradition of winemaking here in the Le Marche. The crisp and fresh Supèra is an expansion of a partnership with a young and vibrant winegrower from this high valley on the Esino River valley that is full of potential, I was incredibly impressed by this stylish version of Verdicchio, which can be rather thin and bitter when not grown well or with such careful handling. The Supèra Verdicchio di Metelica DOC is a mountain wine”with a vibrant core of citrus fruit and a bit more complexity than most examples of this grape, especially at this price, making this a very compelling offering that comes from all sustainable grapes near Esanatoglia that are grown on almost pure clay and formed by ancient glaciers. This 2020 vintage is as pure as it gets with the fermentation and aging all done in stainless steel and with a very short 4 month elevage before quickly being bottled to preserve all of the vitality and zest, making for a great little white for light dishes and or raw oysters. The profile is light and zippy with lemon lime, almond oil, similar to Gruner, and a steely mineral note along with hints of melon, saline and wet stones.

The Garofoli winery was originally founded back in 1871 in the city of Loreto in Marche, which is the site of the Basilica della Santa Casa, one of the most important Christian pilgrimage sites in Italy since the Middle Ages and is still among the most visited pilgrimage churches today. Antonio Garofoli was an Inn keeper in the mid-19th century and in 1871, according to the winery and local historians Garofoli began making wine to quench the pilgrims’ temporal thirst, which was the beginning a long family tradition of winemaking and generous hospitality. Thirty years later, his son Gioacchino founded a full-scale winery operation and the family went into the wine business on a much more serious level. The winery expanded commercially after World War II and was known as Casa Vinicola Gioacchino Garofoli with national and European distribution beginning in 1950. Loreta’s famous basilica was built around a small house that is said to be the very structure in which the Virgin Mary was born and where Jesus was conceived and raised. According to folklore, the house was flown out of Nazareth in Palestine by the angels before that city fell to Muslim forces during the Crusades, and it, as legend has it, wound up here in Loreto, on the Adriatic coast in the remote provence of Le Marche, home of the Castelli di Jesi growing area, noted for Verdicchio grape, that makes for the signature crisply dry white wine of this region. For hundreds of years now, thousands if not millions of the faithful have traveled here from far and wide to see and pray at the Santa Casa (Holy House) and sip the refreshing Verdicchio wines.
($18 Est.) 90 Points, grapelive

By admin