Verdicchio is rarely considered more than a simple thirst-quencher, but thanks to the young, ambitious team that is La Marca di San Michele, such stereotypes can be all but forgotten. Their recipe for success—organic farming, natural vinification and aging in enormous oak casks with malolactic fermentation, and unfiltered bottling—yields a wine that does indeed provide vivacious refreshment, but also delivers ample layers of flavor and refined texture. Suggestions of pine nuts, hay, and spring flowers lead to an ultra-precise, stony finale recalling the ancient seabed the vines call home, in the shadow of the Apennines and within view of the Adriatic Sea. Tuck a few bottles away for six to eight more years, or serve immediately with a local specialty: porchetta.