Friday Sips

Like Florida Gulf Coast last year, Garofoli's Rosso Piceno is the 15 seed darling that everyone loves who knocks off two much stronger teams on their unexpected run to the following rounds. Garofoli was the first producer from Le Marches to earn a star (10 Three Glass Awards) from Italy's Wine Bible, Gambero Rosso. Both red and white wines are produced here and the quality/price rapport is especially favorable, especially on this underdog! Farnio is made up of 60% Montepulciano & 40% Sangiovese and is one hell of a pizza and red sauce wine.

Aged entirely in enamel-lined concrete and stainless steel vats, this wine is ultra-smooth and possessing ardent burst. Plum, violet and wild spicy qualities shine on the nose while texturally it is vibrant, lush and chock full of strawberry and turned earth tones. Try it with pizza with pepperoni or capicolla or a pasta smothered with a Bolognese sauce.

Like Garofoli, Umani Ronchi is a very important producer in Le Marches that also produces a wide range of wines. Many accolades have been bestowed as well and for this selection, we are pouring one of their big reds.

"Cumaro" is a Cru of Umani Ronchi's single vineyard San Lorenzo and pays homage to Mount Conero. 100% Montepulciano and a real expression of a top site of this area, mushroom, ginger and cardamom-spice mingle with rich berry fruit, roasted earth and minerality. The Umani Ronchi Montepulciano vineyards are very close to the sea and that proximity keeps this wine fresh and maintains the precise flavors of the grape. Meaty, hearty and formidable, layered flavors come in waves and persist well after the wine is swallowed. Enjoy this ruggedly handsome red now and over the next 5-7 years with slow-cooked meats, aged cheeses and substantial pasta dishes. At 27 bucks this teeters at the top-end for Le Marches but to put it into perspective, if you were to go west across the Apennines into Tuscany or Umbria, you could expect to pay at least twice this price for this level of quality .

If we're talking hoops and the tournament, Bucci would definitely be akin to North Carolina, Indiana or Dook, icons who go the distance and are formidable every year.

Bucci has long been established as the standard bearer for Verdicchio in the Le Marches region of Castelli di Jesi. This guy's Classico version is on par with most producers' luxury/Riserva bottlings, and let's not even get going on the Villa Bucci which is one of Italy's greatest white wines. Usually we wax poetic about this wine each year we offer it but for some reason after tasting, there was something a bit more about the 2011 that compelled us to excitedly open another bottle. The dimension to this wine is frightening!

Illuminating aromas of mineral, crustaceans, lemongrass, underlying yellow flowers, anise and limestone seemingly alternate in an unhurried fashion and draw you in for a sip. When the wine reaches the lips, perfumed flavors that are rich, yet tense and electric touch all of the senses in the mouth and extend to a superb, palate-staining finish that lingers exquisitely long after the wine is swallowed. Perfect over the next few years with just about anything that swims.

Located inland and at significantly more elevation gain, what separates the Le Marches regions of Matelica and Castelli di Jesi are their locations and specifically their soils, which are sheer hard limestone and quite unique to the area. Verdicchio is the spiritual white grape of the Le Marches region and like Bucci, we have been devotees of Matelica leader Bisci's wines for 15 years.

The 2012 is a crisp, zesty and vivid flavored wine that can best be described as Italian dynamite. Teeming aromas of flint, earth, hints of lemon-peel and smoke lead into a tense, bone-dry texture that is well-delineated and firm. If you like things like unoaked, zesty, flavorful white wines you will love it! Perfect foil for freshly-shucked oysters, grilled prawns and especially crab.