From Santa Barbara, a winery in the Marche on Italy's Adriatic coast, this is Verdicchio at its most serious. The 2023 vintage comes from the Classico zone, the historic heart of the appellation, and the grape is the same one that has grown on these hills for centuries.
- Verdicchio, the grape of the Marche.
- Castelli di Jesi Classico, the appellation's historic core.
- 2023, a warm year across central Italy.
- Fermented dry, 13% alcohol.
- High acidity, medium body, low tannin.
How it is made
Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi is a DOC with rules of its own: the wine must be at least 85% Verdicchio, and the Classico designation is reserved for the original hills around the town of Jesi. The grape itself is unusual, thick-skinned and slow to ripen, which is why it holds its acidity so well even in warm years. Santa Barbara farms vineyards in these hills and makes the wine in stainless steel, keeping the fruit and the mineral edge intact.
How it tastes
Bright pale yellow with a gold tinge in the glass. The nose is intense and persistent, all white flowers and citrus fruit with a thread of fresh almond running through it. On the palate it is dry and medium-bodied, with green apple and lemon on a firm mineral spine. The acidity is high and carries the wine cleanly through a long, slightly bitter almond finish.
Good to know
Verdicchio has been grown in the Marche since at least the fourteenth century, and the wines of the Castelli di Jesi were among the first Italian whites to earn a DOC. The name is thought to come from verde, for the greenish hue the grape takes on the vine.
