The delights of Verdiccio are one of Italy's greatest white wines.

Verdicchio is perhaps the greatest white wine variety in Italy. It can compete with Greco or Fiano from Campania, as well as Vermentino from Tuscany and Liguria. But there is no doubt that wines from Verdicchio are among the most flavorful, complex and long-lived in the country.

There are two main types of wines from Verdicchio: Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi and Verdicchio di Matelica. The former is named after the castles of Jesi, a town in the eastern Marche near the Adriatic Sea, while the latter is produced in an inland area further west and south of Jesi. Both wines have lovely flavors of melon, pear, citrus and white flowers and very good, sometimes lively acidity. However, there are differences between the two types of wine.

Gianluca Garofoli, owner of a winery in the Jesi zone, comments on these differences. "The main differences are soil, microclimate and altitude," Garofoli notes. "In the Yesi zone, the soil is mostly clay, while Matelika is a valley in the middle of the mountains with clay and calcareous soil. The terroir of Jesi is the open valley to the sea. "The average altitude in Jesi is lower than in Matelik, and in summer the wind blows from the Adriatic Sea. Matelica has a continental climate, so the difference in temperature between night and day is greater than in Jesi. "

Verdicchio is particularly known for its potential for long aging; most samples are perfectly drinkable between seven and ten years old, and for the best versions from the best vintages (such as 1999, 2010, 2019 and 2021) made by the best producers, it's not uncommon to enjoy a 25-year-old sample.

One of Verdicchio's most notable wine estates today is Andrea Felici, in the small town of Apiro in the Castelli di Jesi zone. The Felici family - Andrea and his son Leopardo, the winemaker, have only been making wine for a little over a decade, but they have received numerous awards from Italian publications as well as from the US and Japan as some of Verdicchio's finest producers. What makes their wines special is the outstanding purity and focus of the varietal, as well as their brilliant complexity and sense of place.

Only two examples of Verdicchio are produced at Felici: Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi Classico Superiore and a single vineyard, Viña Il Cantico della Figura Castello di Jesi Riserva Classico. The latter wine is made from 50-year-old vines and is not only a great Verdicchio, but also one of the best white wines produced in Italy today.

When it comes to defining Verdicchio, here are the words of Leopardo Felici: "Verdicchio, the king of white wines, is a red wine disguised as a white wine. His origins are lost for centuries, but then converge in the one land where he can always perform at his best. It is a strong, full-bodied wine variety that tends to ripen late and prefers well-exposed hilly regions with lime-clay soil, preferably not too dry. It has excellent sugar development properties and good acidity retention, even in very hot years, thanks to its ripening process, which is always slow and gradual. "The wine is very recognizable with its green hues and aromas, sometimes almost salty, its powerful mineral notes and its amino acid note, and its rare ability to withstand extended bottle aging with excellent results." I'd say Felici's claim of superior results is a bit of an understatement, not just for his wines, but for Verdicchio in general.