The old way: D’Antan 2015 Cavalieri

There are many possible versions of Verdicchio di Matelica. This one from Cavalieri has both body and soul.

Over the past 25 years there have been many different interpretations of Verdicchio di Matelica. There is La Monascesa’s Mirum, an impressive white from a late harvest; the ambitious Burgundy-style Cambrugiano from Belisario; the Riesling-style Borgo Paglianetto and so on. Thus this is a varietal open to interpretation that is on the one hand subject to perhaps excessive stylistic differences, while on the other has never suffered from anarchic production. In fact, it has always had a clear common denominator: an aroma that is between being vegetal and citrusy, along with an almost mountain-like freshness that is almost never at the expense of the body.

Before the wine revolution of the 1990s that launched a number of styles, production of Metalica was for the most part done using the classic approach of making it in stainless steel vats while a minor percentage was made allowing the grapes to macerate on the skins. . However, when it involves Matelica, such maceration did not produce Georgian-style ‘orange’ wines. Those wines, the popularity of which exploded in Friuli thanks to trailblazer Josko Gravner, are rare indeed in the Marche region.

Macerated white Marche wines have more or less have a straw-yellow color and sitting on the skins makes the mouthfeel ‘thicker’. The situation becomes even more complicated when it comes to Verdicchio because its skin is richer in catechine, which means there is a risk that maceration may make the wine rough or too bitter. Cavalieri avoided this with D’Antan having (re)discovered the Matelica style of allowing only brief maceration on the skins “which I need above all to better kick off fermentation”, estate owner-operator Gabriele Cavalieri told us.

Cavalieri
Owner: Gabriele Benedetti
Via Raffaello, 1
62024 Matelica (MC) 
Tel. +39 340 2747331
info@cantinacavalieri.it
www.cantinacavalieri.it

Related Products