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2015 Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi Classico Riserva “Passolento”
La Marca di San Michele
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.
—Anthony Lynch
Wine Type: | white |
Vintage: | 2015 |
Bottle Size: | 750mL |
Blend: | Verdicchio |
Appellation: | Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi |
Country: | Italy |
Region: | Le Marche |
Producer: | La Marca di San Michele |
Vineyard: | 30 year old vines, 25 ha |
Soil: | Sandy tuffo |
Aging: | Ages in 10 hl Slavonian oak botti for 8 months |
Farming: | Sustainable |
Alcohol: | 14% |
More from this Producer or Region

2021 Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi Classico Riserva “Passolento”
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2023 Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi Classico Superiore “Capovolto”
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This low-alcohol, youthful bianco has a subtle, chalky texture you might find in much pricier French Chablis.

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This red, made from the local Montepulciano grape, is aged in tank and bottle to refine its pleasantly rustic personality.

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The wine’s salinity finds balance with a delightfully tart note of lemon rind.

About The Producer
La Marca di San Michele
About The Region
Le Marche
Le Marche’s reputation as a producer of fine wine is relatively recent, as the region is very much off the beaten path for tourists and tasters alike. And yet, early Etrsucan and Roman civilizations grew grapes here, a tradition that persists and continues to gain momentum in this undulating land where the Apennines descend to the Adriatic.
In between the warm coastline and the cool, rugged mountainous border with Umbria lies a landscape of calcareous rolling hills that provide ideal conditions for viticulture. The zingy, green-tinged, citrus- and pine-scented Verdicchio is king here, producing delightfully crisp whites that perfectly complement the fresh fish and seafood stews of the Adriatic, in addition to the pork-based dishes that are staples inland. Around the towns of Jesi and Matelica, the grape takes on an additional dimension and is even capable of significant aging under the right conditions.
While our involvement in the region is recent, the two producers we represent demonstrate that Le Marche is capable of producing whites of serious interest, which often come at great value.
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Where the newsletter started

Where the newsletter started
Every three or four months I would send my clients a cheaply made list of my inventory, but it began to dawn on me that business did not pick up afterwards. It occurred to me that my clientele might not know what Château Grillet is, either. One month in 1974 I had an especially esoteric collection of wines arriving, so I decided to put a short explanation about each wine into my price list, to try and let my clients know what to expect when they uncorked a bottle. The day after I mailed that brochure, people showed up at the shop, and that is how these little propaganda pieces for fine wine were born.—Kermit Lynch