Produttori di Manduria 'Alice' Verdeca 2022

93 POINTS: Wine Direct Tasting Team

"Another winner from Produtori di Manduria. Lovely pale straw colour. On first sniff it shows lovely fresh notes of white flowers mixed with citrus and a hint of pear. On the palate it is refeshingly dry but has a ton of lovely white fleshed fruit. Full bodied, without any obstructive oak to distract from the purity of fruit."
- 93 Points: Wine Direct Tasting Team

Verdeca is a relatively rare white wine grape variety from Puglia in southern Italy. It is now found almost exclusively in the Taranto and Bari provinces. The region accounts for around 97 percent of a total of 800 hectares (1,975 acres).

Its wines can range from quite neutral and herbal, though to more aromatic wines with mixed citrus flavors. It can easily be confused with the similarly named, an equally rare variety from Tuscany. Although once a mainstay of vermouth production (which declined to almost nothing in the 20th Century), Verdeca is now used in blended and varietal wines in various parts of Puglia. Its most notable use is arguably in the Salento peninsula's Martina Franca and Locorotondo wines, in which it is blended with Bianco d' Alessano. Further north, in Campania, Verdeca can figure in the Lacryma Christi (tears of Christ) wines produced from the slopes of Mount Vesuvius.

There is evidence suggesting that Verdeca, like many Italian grape varieties, may have originated further east in the Mediterranean, in either Croatia or Greece. Respected ampelographer José Vouillamoz suggests that it is in fact the same variety as Lagorthi.

ABV: 13%