Sopra e Sotto

Dining out

Within Italy more than abroad, Le Marche is famous for its typical regional dishes. For instance, try the olive d’Ascolana, deep-fried Ascoli olives with breadcrumbs filled with meat – a delicious appetizer! Or, if you’re into fish, the Brodetto, an Adriatic fish stew with as its main ingredient red or grey mullet, octopus or squid. The dish is different in each coastal town! For those who love pasta, Le Marche has Vincisgrassi, a lasagne with minced meat, mushroom, tomato, béchamel sauce, and … with some luck … white truffle. And last but not least, local dessert: Pizza Dolce, or Frustenga, a cake with raisins, figs and walnuts.

Delicatessen

Like many other regions in Italy, Le Marche is famous for its local delicatessen, oil and wine. For instance: the porcini, and white truffles, the rare and aromatic version. The region is also known for its meat (wild boar, rabbit, hare, quail, pigeon, and goose) and meat products. How about the slightly sweet local prosciutto (ham), the porchetta (sucking pig with garlic), salami or ciauscolo (a soft spreadable pork salami). Then there are the extraordinary cheeses from Le Marche, like the pecorino (both young as ‘stagionata’) and the casciotta (creamy smoke-flavoured ricotta cheese from Urbino). Almost each farmer in Le Marche has his own olive garden, which results in a surprising variety of flavours. Take some home with you to relish the memory of some of the finest regional oils and vinegars? We can give you the addresses of good olive oil producers who press their own oil. Sopra e Sotto has its own – not too big- olive garden. The oil it produces is sold in our estate shop, subject to stock being unsold.

Wines

Le Marche is an emerging wine making area. Young and ambitious winegrowers have invested heavily in new storage and yeasting methods, which has resulted in surprisingly good wines at affordable prices. Most wines are made from local grapes. Sopra e Sotto also has a small vineyard. We can give you the addresses of local wine growers for wine tasting, but Sopra e Sotto will organize wine tasting parties, too!

• Special wine producers

White wine

One of the best Italian white wines - some even say the best Italian wine for fish – is Le Marche’s Verdicchio. It has a pale greenish tint, a refined bouquet with hints of apple and peach, a well-balanced dry taste, and is slightly bitter in the aftertaste. There are two types: Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi, which is the most famous DOC label from Le Marche, elegant, dry and fruity. It has been grown in this area since the 15th century, on the hills west of the city of Jesi. And there is Verdicchio di Matelica which is produced more to the south and in-land on calcareous clay soil. Like the Castelli di Jesi, this wine may only be added with 15% of Trebbiano of Malvasia.

Red wine

There are several red wines in Le Marche. Most of them are made from the Sangiovese grape, together with the Nebbiolo, which is one of the noblest Italian grapes from Tuscan origin. Typical of wine made from Sangiovese grapes is the black cherry aroma with hints of wood, tar, and herbs. Besides the Sangiovese, Le Marche also has red grapes like the Montepulciano (originally from the Abruzzen), with mild tannins and the flavour of ripe fruit. The Rosso Piceno is the best known red wine from Le Marche, mainly produced around Ascoli. Made from a combination of Sangiovese (15%) and Montepulciano grapes. When the alcohol percentage is more than 11.5%, the wine is called Superiore. The delicious Rosso Piceno goes very well with spicy food and roast. The Rosso Conero is the best local wine. It is a small DOCG on the 600 meter high slopes of the Monte Conero south of Ancona. Like the Rosso Piceno consisting of Montepulciano grapes and no more than 15% of Sangiovese. Robust, full red wine with a spicy and black cherry flavour. Procuded in very small volumes because of the emerging cit of Ancona. The Lacrima di Morro D’Alba is made from the Lacrima grape in Morro d’Alba, a grape that was already endemic in the Roman days and even before. Contains at least 85% of Lacrima added with Montepulciano or Verdicchio. Traditionally sweet, but still being produced in dryer versions with rose and violet reflections. A very small DOCG label is the Vernaccia di Serrapetrona made of the Vernaccia Nera and processed into dry or sweet sparkling red wine. It is grown in the area of Macerata, and in the municipalities of Belforte del Chienti, and San Severino. The most common sweet version goes well with desserts and cheeses. The dry version is quite rare. The Vernaccia Rossa di Pergola is produced from the Rossa type of the Vernaccia, which dates back to the 13th century and was recently rediscovered. Produced by only one winegrower around Pergola.

Vino cotto

The best known traditional wine from Le Marche is the vino cotto. It is a ‘cooked’ wine which used to be made in every farm. Not the wine, but the unfermented grape juice is cooked first. Then the fermentation process starts. The result is a firm wine with the alcohol percentage of port and sherry. The aroma’s become stronger when the vino cotto is allowed to ripe in barrels for years. Very old vino cotto is quite costly.