An Evening with Garofoli Le Marche at the Table | Tuesday, September 29, 2026 | 6:30 PM Biagio Ristorante
Le Marche is the stretch of central Italy that runs from the Apennines down to the Adriatic, and it is one of the country's great under-sung wine regions. Crisp, saline Verdicchio from the hills behind Jesi. Deep, sun-fed Montepulciano and Sangiovese grown within sight of the sea. Food built around both.
On September 29, we are taking you there for the evening. Biagio Ristorante has built a five-course menu around the wines of Casa Vinicola Gioacchino Garofoli, the region's oldest and most historic family estate, and the two move together course by course: fried Ascolane olives with young Verdicchio, seafood ragù with Montepulciano rosato, truffle and beef with the reds of the Conero coast.
We warmly invite you to join us for what promises to be a genuinely fun night at the table.
Tuesday, September 29 | 6:30PM
Biagio Ristorante, 155 King St E, Toronto
$175 per person, plus taxes and gratuities.
To book email: events@halpernwine.com
Menu and Pairings
WELCOME RECEPTION
Stuzzichini: the chef's selection of traditional Italian finger foods
Sparkling
ANTIPASTO
Antipasto alla Marchigiana: olive ascolane (meat-stuffed fried olives), artisanal cured meats, and regional cheeses
Garofoli 2025 Serra del Conte Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi
PRIMO PIATTO
Calamarata al Ragù di Mare: calamarata pasta in a rich tomato sauce with local seafood
Garofoli 2025 Komaros Rosato
SECONDO PIATTO
Filetto alla Rossini: beef tenderloin with liver pâté and black truffle sauce on toasted pan brioche, with vegetables
Garofoli 2025 Farnio Rosso Piceno & Garofoli 2025 Monte Reale Sangiovese
DOLCE
Budino al Caramello: silky caramel pudding
Amaro
GAROFOLI
Five Generations in Le Marche
The story starts in Loreto, a pilgrimage town a few kilometres from the Adriatic. Antonio Garofoli ran a tavern there, pouring local wine for travellers, and what began as that modest operation grew under his son Gioacchino into one of Italy's most venerable wine houses. Antonio started producing and selling wine in 1871; Gioacchino formally founded the winery under his own name in 1901. After the war, his sons Franco and Dante took over, and the company was incorporated in 1950.
The next two decades did the structural work. The family built the Serra del Conte facility specifically for Verdicchio, expanded the Castelfidardo cellars underground for barrel maturation, and bought vineyards in both the Rosso Conero zone and the Jesi hills. Franco's sons Carlo and Gianfranco came into the business in 1973, and by the end of that decade Garofoli had made the first metodo classico sparkling wine from Verdicchio.
Then came the part that changed how the world reads the grape. Through the 1980s the family cut yields and harvested later, chasing a Verdicchio with real complexity, and retired the novelty amphora "fish" bottle in favour of a straight Bordeaux bottle. In 1984, at a moment when barriques were barely being discussed in the region, they released Serra Fiorese, the first Verdicchio aged a minimum of two years in wood and bottle. Verdicchio, it turned out, could age like a serious white. Garofoli proved it first.