This is the sort of wine you need a spoon to eat properly. Maurizio Marchetti’s classic, superior Verdicchio always pumps iron, but in 2024, it has unusual weight and intensity even by its own sky high standards. The grapes for Marchetti’s Tenuta del Cavaliere hang nearly an extra month on the vine, soaking up all the autumnal sunshine of the Marche’s languorous, cool but sunny Octobers. Maurizio doubles down on texture in the winery, doing everything he can to slow down the fermentation. The wine spends weeks with the lees, gaining another creamy layer every day. The nose is intense and sharp-edged, with asian pear, salted lemon, melon, big white and pink peppercorns, sage, and rosemary. The palate is full bodied with flinty acidity, fleshy pears, peaches, and sea-salt all over the finish. Leaner than the last couple years and full of nervous energy. This is a wine for roast chicken, turkey, halibut, or pork, for risotto of every make or potato leek soup. It is also that sort of wine so uninhibitedly unctuous that you may forget to cook once you pour a glass.