Vernaccia di Serrapetrona: A 3 fermentation wine

Welcome to our 7^th Italian Food, Wine & Travel event as we make our way around Italy visiting each region month by month. This month we feature the region of Le Marche in Italy. The Marche is a region in central Italy.  Pronounced “lay mark-ay”, the Le Marche region borders Emilia Romagna to the north, Umbria to the west and Abruzzo to the south and barely touches the regions of Tuscany and Lazio.  The Marche has a long coastline is located on the eastern side of Italy along the Adriatic Sea, but inland you will find the Apennine mountain chain running through it.  Best of both worlds, but also the region why there is so much variety within the country and each region themselves.  

Copyright of Federdoc

I recently wrote about Verdicchio, one of the most popular white grapes from this region. Today I wanted to share with you an interesting wine from this region made from Vernaccia. No, it's not the vernaccia white grape like the Vernaccia di San Gimignano from Tuscany. This is a wine that is made from Vernaccia Nera called Vernaccia di Serrapetrona that comes from the Macerata province located more inland. This is one of the 5 DOCG wines from the Marche wine region. 

The process of creating Vernaccia di Serrapetrona
The most interesting aspect about this wine is that it goes through 3 fermentations. During harvest time about 60% of the grapes harvested are processed and 40% of the grapes are dried out, which is known as appassimento. Lastly after the grapes have been dried out for a few months until about January they are then crushed and fermented. Finally, the wines are blended together and the final fermentation takes place and undergoes a third fermentation in stainless tanks via the Charmat method.

Appassimento, grape drying process

What is Vernaccia di Serrapetrona?
Vernaccia di Serrapetrona is a red sparkling semi-sweet to sweet wine, but can also be a dry, secco style. At least 85% of this wine must be made with vernaccia nera.   The flavor profile is reminiscent of ripe red fruits including cranberries and strawberries with some spice and tannin combined with good acidity. I'd like to say I got my hands on a Vernaccia di Serrapetrona for this tasting, but unfortunately not.  Vino Travels is all about education of Italian grapes and if I just opened your eyes to a special wine of the Marche wine region then I'm happy ; )

Vineyards of Le Marche by Roy Luck

Join us live on Twitter today at 10am EST and throughout the weekend at #ItalianFWT and share your experiences of the Marche region in Italy.  More Marche blogs coming right up......

Cooking Chat - Orecchiette and Grilled Sausage with a Verdicchio 
Rockin Red Blog - Marche revisted for #ItalianFWT 
Christy's Palate - Le Marche: Verdicchio with Spaghetti & Clams 
Enofylz Wine Blog - A Taste of Marche: Chicken in Potacchio with Sararelli Verdicchio 
Food Wine Click - Hidden Treasures from Le Marche 

Join us next month Saturday June 6th as we explore the Campania region in Italy.  If you would like to join our group email Vino Travels directly at vinotravels at hotmail dot com.  Ciao ciao for now!

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