2023 Lucchetti Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi Classico

100% Verdicchio. Hand harvested from 10-15 year old vines on clay soils. Macerated for eight days and fermented and aged in stainless steel. No malolactic. 12.5% alcohol. 

Light, fresh and unmistakably Italian, this Verdicchio has a dinstively floral, herbal, nutty nose with underlying notes of peach and other stone fruits. Light in body but feels rich in the mouth, with high acidity and a surprisingly tropical/mineral finish. 

Mario Lucchetti began in the 1980s with the first acres of Lacrima di Morro d’Alba, one of the local indigenous varietals in this rural area of Le Marche in the province of Ancona, not far from the town of Jesi. His passion focused on restoring the importance of the area’s native varietals. With new plantings in 2004, the estate’s total vineyard size expanded to 14 hectares and continues to grow today. In recent years, Mario’s son Paolo completed his degree in enology and is now working side by side with his father to carry the family tradition into the next decades. The focal point of the winery is their basic Lacrima bottling, but they also produce the “Guardengo” single-vineyard bottling as well as an Amarone style Lacrima made from partially dried grapes. Annual production remains well under 10,000 cases per year. 

“Mario Lucchetti, helped by his wife Teresa, his son Paolo and his wife Tiziana, has become a reference point for Lacrima di Morro d’Alba wines. Potassium-rich, iron-poor soils help to create wines of great power and warmth that are at the same time always highly aromatic. The estate’s 18 hectares are planted to Lacrima (many vines are 35 to 40 years old) and Verdicchio; the winemaking is overseen by one of the Marche’s brightest minds, Alberto Mazzoni, who also serves as consulting winemaker at the standout Sartarelli estate.” 

– Ian D’Agata, VinousMedia