Glassware

Verdicchio doesn't need a large, round-bellied glass. Its finest notes are green almond, citrus peel, and a faint hint of iodine that recalls the nearby Adriatic. These are delicate, fleeting aromas that dissipate in a wide bowl before the nose can even catch them. A slender, slightly tapered glass, whose opening stays narrower than its bowl, suits it better. It gathers what rises rather than scattering it.

When it comes to temperature, the rule of thumb is simple. Fifty to fifty-four degrees Fahrenheit for young Verdicchio, a couple of degrees warmer for a Riserva with a few years of bottle age. Colder than that, and all you taste is acidity — and that's exactly what you shouldn't experience in isolation with this wine, but embedded in fruit and almond.

Rosso Conero demands the opposite. Montepulciano brings color, tannin, and often alcohol above thirteen and a half percent, and too narrow a glass would press all of that onto the tongue like a fist. Here, space is needed. A glass with a wider bowl, similar to one for Cabernet or Syrah, served at sixty-one to sixty-four degrees Fahrenheit, so tannin and fruit stay in balance.

The most unusual glass is the one for Vernaccia di Serrapetrona. The wine is red and sparkling at the same time, which leads many people, without thinking, to pour it into a narrow champagne flute. That's a mistake, because the narrow opening suppresses exactly the fruitiness that makes this wine worth drinking in the first place. A slightly wider tulip glass lets carbonation and aroma rise together. Chilled to forty-six to fifty degrees Fahrenheit, as with any sweet sparkling wine.

Lacrima di Morro d'Alba, too, is often served in the wrong glass, some generic red wine glass as for any other wine of this strength. Yet it rewards a smaller, more open glass, one that doesn't trap the rose scent but releases it immediately with just a gentle swirl. Served at fifty-seven to sixty-one degrees Fahrenheit, noticeably cooler than a robust Rosso Conero, the aroma stays clear and the wine never feels heavy.